J.   N.  BAXTER. 


fiv  3.o  r 


UBRftftf 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALtFORMA 

RIVERSIDE 


PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE 


OF 


LOKD  CHANCELLOR  ELDON, 


SELECTIONS  FROM  HIS  CORRESPONDENCE. 


HER  VAJ 


ONE  OF  HER  TVIAJESTY's  COUNSEL. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 


i  wXia-Tov  anoviriv  <ro<^oy. 

ETJRIP.  Phoenias.  455,  6. 
Stay:  speed  secures  not  justice:  'tis  slow  counsel 
That  most  works  wisdom. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

CAREY    AND    HART 

1844. 


V,  / 


T.  E.  <fc  P.  G.  COLLINS,  PRINTERS. 


JE&e  fbllotofnn  38fogva$)» 

OF 

JOHN,  FIRST  EARL  OF  ELDON, 

LORD  HIGH  CHANCELLOR  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN, 

IS  INDEBTED,  FOR  THE  MOST  VALUABLE  OF  ITS  MATERIALS, 

TO  THE  AFFECTIONATE  LABOURS  OF 

HIS  GRANDSON, 

JOHN,  SECOND  EARL  OF  ELDON, 

TO  WHOM. 

WITH  HIS  PERMISSION, 

THE   WORK   IS    INSCRIBED, 

BY  HIS   MOST  OBLIGED  AND   FAITHFUL  SERVANT, 

HORACE  TWISS. 


PREFACE. 


A  BIOGRAPHY  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon  can  want  no 
apology,  except  for  the  deficiencies  of  the  writer. 

In  such  a  memoir,  a  total  absence  of  political  feeling 
would  have  been  hardly  attainable,  and  perhaps  not  desira- 
ble. The  life  of  any  modern  statesman,  if  written  without  a 
general  sympathy  in  his  political  views,  must  have  a  cold- 
ness and  flatness,  which  no  tone  of  impartiality  could  redeem. 
The  writer  of  these  pages,  therefore,  though  he  presumes, 
in  some  important  instances, — even  in  one  so  momentous  as 
that  of  the  Catholic  question, — to  dissent  from  Lord  Eldon's 
opinions,  has  not  affected  an  air  of  indifference  as  to  those 
stirring  questions  of  politics  in  which  Lord  Eldon  was 
mixed,  and  still  less  as  to  those  party  attacks  of  which  he 
was  individually  the  object.  Where  the  course  of  the  work 
has  led  the  author  into  contact  with  such  subjects,  he  has 
thought  it  best  to  deal  with  them  frankly. — He  has  ventured 
to  introduce  some  general  notices  of  several  persons  con- 
nected with  Lord  Eldon,  as  well  as  of  those  eminent  men, 
now  no  more,  who,  at  any  period  of  his  chancellorship,  were 
leaders  of  the  administration  in  either  House  of  Parliament, 
or  judges  of  any  branch  of  the  English  Court  of  Chancery. 
But  no  one  now  living  is  among  the  subjects  of  these  out- 
lines. 

From  unavoidable  circumstances,  publication  has  been 
delayed  beyond  the  time  at  first  intended;  but,  as  the  repu- 
tation of  Lord  Eldon  is  not  likely  to  be  a  transient  one,  it  is 
hoped  that  the  pains,  with  which  these  memoirs  have  been 
collected  and  sifted,  will  be  found  to  compensate  the  lateness 
of  their  appearance. 


PREFACE. 


So  copious  has  been  the  contribution  of  materials  from 
the  relatives  and  friends  of  Lord  Eldon,  and,  above  all, 
from  his  grandson  and  successor,  the  present  earl,  that  one 
of  the  chief  difficulties  of  the  work  has  been  to  decide  what 
original  letters  and  papers,  among  several  thousands,  should 
be  preferred  for  publication,  as  best  suited  to  unite  the  ob- 
jects of  illustrating  Lord  Eldon's  character  and  of  gratifying 
the  interest  which  attaches  to  his  name.  In  the  hope  of 
accomplishing  this  double  purpose,  it  has  been  thought  ex- 
pedient to  omit  all  the  merely  technical  matters  in  which  he 
was  engaged,  whether  as  a  lawyer  or  as  a  statesman,  and  to 
notice  even  his  parliamentary  speeches  in  only  a  cursory 
manner,  except  where  they  have  some  direct  bearing  upon 
his  fame  or  fortune,  or  where  the  surviving  and  strong  inte- 
rest of  the  subject  seems  to  make  it  more  important  that  his 
opinions  and  authority  should  be  kept  before  the  public. 

The  principal  sources,  then,  of  this  biography,  are : 

First.  The  letters  of  Lord  Eldon  himself  to  his  brother 
Lord  Stowell,  to  his  daughter  Lady  Frances  Bankes,  to  his 
grandson,  the  present  earl,  to  some  others  of  his  relations  and 
friends,  and  to  some  of  his  political  colleagues. 

Secondly.  A  collection  of  letters  to  Lord  Chancellor  El- 
don, from  George  III. ;  from  George  IV.,  as  Prince  of  Wales, 
as  Prince  Regent,  and  as  King;  from  Queen  Charlotte; 
from  Queen  Caroline,  when  Princess  of  Wales;  and  from 
others  of  the  royal  family. 

Thirdly.  A  manuscript  book  of  anecdotes  and  observations 
noted  down  by  Lord  Eldon  himself,  in  his  latter  years,  for 
his  grandson's  use  and  amusement. 

Fourthly.  Some  miscellaneous  manuscripts,  chiefly  in 
his  own  handwriting,  and  various  memoranda, — communi- 
cated by  the  present  earl. 

Fifthly.  Notes,  made  by  Mr.  Farrer,  the  Master  in  Chan- 
cery, of  conversations  with  Lord  Eldon  shortly  before  his 
death: — and  contributions  from  Mrs.  and  Miss  Forster,  (his 
brother  Henry's  daughter  and  granddaughter,)  who  spent 
parts  of  several  years  with  him  toward  the  close  of  his  life, 


PREFACE. 


and  carefully  collected  all  the  family  traditions  relating  to 
him. 

Lastly.  Those  four  spirited  and  interesting  articles,  pub- 
lished in  the  Law  Magazine,  Nos.  41  to  44,  the  able  author 
of  which  was  supplied  with  much  authentic  information 
upon  points  of  fact  by  the  late  Mr.  Pensam,  many  years  one 
of  Lord  Eldon's  official  secretaries  and  confidential  friends. 

In  the  review  of  Lord  Eldon's  judicial  character,  the 
writer  of  this  biography  has  had  the  aid  of  some  well-digested 
references  lent  to  him  by  Mr.  Wright,  and  of  some  valuable 
suggestions  from  Mr.  Lee,  both  eminent  members  of  the 
Chancery  bar :  and  he  has  derived  very  important  benefit 
from  the  accurate  official  information  kindly  afforded  to  him 
by  Mr.  Colville  and  Mr.  Bedwell  of  the  Register  Office,  and 
Mr.  Smith  of  the  House  of  Lords. 

For  the  letters  of  Lord  Eldon  to  Lord  Stowell,  he 'has  to 
thank  his  old  friend  Mr.  Chisholme,  one  of  Lord  StowelPs 
executors;  and  he  is  indebted  to  several  other  gentlemen  for 
other  contributions,  less  extensive,  but  likely,  he  trusts,  to 
advance  the  acceptation  of  the  work  which  he  now  ventures 
to  lay  before  the  public. 

JUNE,  1844. 


LIFE 


LORD  CHANCELLOR  ELDON. 


CHAPTER  I. 

TO  1760. 

Introduction.— Origin  of  the  family  and  name  of  Scott. — Mr.  Scott,  the  father  of 
Lord  Eldon:  Hoastmen  of  Newcastle. — Extraordinary  circumstances  of  William 
Scott's  birth. — Birth  of  John  Scott,  1751. — Early  residence.— Education  :  New- 
castle High  School :  Rev.  Hugh  Moises. — School  days  and  stories. 

To  have  risen,  without  advantage  of  birth,  property  or  connection, 
from  comparatively  humble  station  to  the  summits  of  rank  and  wealth, 
has  been  the  fortune  of  many  an  ambitious  man.     But  the  interest 
attaching  to  the  lives  of  those  who  have  achieved  greatness  so  far  and 
no  further,  is  only  that  of  individual  adventure :  their  history,  though 
public  occurrences  chance  to  be  involved  in  it,  is  not  connected  with 
the  formation  and  direction  of  national  opinion  and  feeling.     Lord 
Eldon's  memory  is  linked  with  higher  associations  and  more  endur- 
ing results.     His  powers  were  of  that  rare  and  standard  order,  to 
which,  in  times  of  danger  and  doubt,  the  minds  of  men  make  fast  as 
to  a  mooring,  and  from  which  a  whole  generation  is  fain  to  take  its 
impulse.     He  had  entered  public  life  early  in  that  eventful  period 
which  Rousseau  described  as  the  coming  age  of  revolutions.     Ame- 
rica had  thrown  off  the  allegiance  of  her  youth.     The  sacrifices  of 
principle  which  the  coalition  of  Lord  North  and  Mr.  Fox  was  con- 
sidered to  involve,  had  excited,  among  the  English  people,  a  general 
distrust  of  party  politicians.     A  century  had  elapsed  since  the  tran- 
scendental questions  of  civil  government  had  been  mooted  in  Europe, 
except  by  way  of  speculative  inquiry ;  so  that  political  discussion  had 
the  relish  of  novelty  in  addition  to  its  other  attractions.     Meanwhile, 
the  scandals  of  the  court  and  aristocracy  in  France  had  been  laid 
bare,  first  by  the  attacks  of  the  wits  and  philosophers,  and  afterwards 
by  the  coarser  onslaught  of  the  Jacobins;  and  the  Revolution  had 
there  exploded  in  the  destruction  of  the  monarchy  and  of  the  monarch. 
The  abuses,  proved  in  France,  were  then  assumed  to  have  equal 
prevalence  in  England ;  the  cases,  and  the  fitting  remedies  for  them, 
were  declared  by  English  demagogues  to  be  parallel ;  and  multitudes 
of  our  countrymen,  some  discontented,  some  corrupt,  some  only 
VOL.  i. — 2 


18  LIFE  OF  LORD 

thoughtless,  joined  in  the  common  cry  for  the  proscription  of  existing 
institutions.  The  demand  was  difficult  to  check;  for  it  had  all  the 
strength  which  could  be  brought  by  numbers,  overbearing,  intolerant 
and  foul-mouthed;  and,  while  it  affected  to  regulate  itself  by  abstract 
reason,  it  practically  took  that  rough  road  to  men's  understandings 
which  leads  through  their  fears.  It  was  in  those  fierce  heats  that 
the  strong  metal  of  Scott  was  fashioned  and  hardened,  and  wrought 
to  its  high  temper.  The  wars  waged  by  Mr.  Pitt  with  France,  first  in 
her  republican  and  afterwards  in  her  imperial  state,  did  much  to 
avert  immediate  danger;  but  when,  after  the  pacification  of  Europe, 
the  dangerous  dispositions  which  had  for  a  time  been  absorbed  or 
overlaid  by  foreign  hostility,  were  again  let  loose  upon  the  constitu- 
tion of  England,  then  a  fresh  rally  and  a  fresh  enlistment  became 
necessary  for  its  defence ;  and  then  the  influence  of  Lord  Eldon's 
character,  lessons  and  example  was  felt  upon  the  public  mind.  He 
set  himself  boldly  to  quench  the  incendiary  lights  of  the  new  philoso- 
phy ;  and  applying  his  great  capacity  and  accurate  learning  to  uphold, 
by  argument  and  recorded  experience,  that  constitution  which  modem 
sciolists  had  sought  to  disparage  and  repudiate,  he  satisfied  its  natural 
friends  that  in  it  they  had  something  vastly  more  valuable  than  a 
mere  name  of  antiquity  to  fight  for :  while  his  unimpeachable  in- 
tegrity and  unbending  firmness  gave  them  full  assurance  that  so 
high  a  cause  lacked  not  a  leader  worthy  of  and  equal  to  it.  The 
force  which  has  but  too  often  remained  a  vis  inertia,  that  of  the 
classes  which  include  a*id  represent  the  property,  the  regular  in- 
dustry and  the  established  religion  of  England,  was  thus  at  length 
awakened  and  developed,  and  inspirited  to  resist  the  advance  of 
democracy;  and  Lord  Eldon,  without  the  aid  of  intrigues  or  of  any 
other  appliances  than  his  own  ability,  reputation  and  position,  found 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  party,  great  in  numbers  and  still  greater  in 
character;  not  a  frantic  multitude,  like  the  ignorant  and  intolerant 
insurgents  that  rolled  in  dusty  whirlwinds  after  Gordon  or  Sache- 
verel,  but  a  calm,  coherent,  steadfast  body,  comprehending  the  highest 
and  most  respectable  ranks — an  immense  majority  of  the  nobility,  the 
clergy  and  the  landed  gentry — the  superior  classes  of  the  mercantile, 
if  not  of  the  manufacturing  interests — the  generality  of  the  liberal 
professions, — and  many  of  those  men  of  reflection  and  education 
who,  though  they  had  looked  with  hope  upon  the  first  experiments  of 
French  democracy,  were  able,  now  that  time  had  blown  aside  the  hot 
reek  of  that  revolution,  to  descry  the  necessity  of  cooler  counsels  and 
to  deduce  a  warning  from  the  downward  progress  of  events.  Wield- 
ing this  powerful  combination  of  forces,  Lord  Eldon  was  enabled, 
through  many  a  long  year  of  untiring  energy,  to  break  the  successive 
tides  of  revolution, — until  at  length,  in  1831,  the  ill-starred  conjunc- 
tion of  the  royal  with  the  democratic  will,  gave  that  sinister  heave  to 
the  constitution  which  has  wrenched  it  from  its  frame,  and  converted 
its  administration  from  a  systematic  government  to  a  succession  of 
conflicts,  each  doubtful  in  its  issue,  and  each  more  dangerous  than 
its  antecedent.  But,  in  whatever  shape  and  at  whatever  season  the 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  19 

consequences  of  that  dislocation  may  come  upon  us,  those  who 
honour  the  memory  of  Lord  Eldon  will  have  the  pride  of  reflecting, 
that,  to  the  latest  practicable  moment,  he  stood  up  for  the  ancient 
safeguards  of  the  crown  and  the  people ;  and  that  when  at  length 
the  constitution  was  laid  low — w^hen  the  seal  of  its  doom  had  been 
extorted  by  duress  from  the  Peers,  and  the  House  of  Commons  was 
leveled  to  a  national  convention — even  then,  at  an  age  surpassing 
the  common  limits  of  mortality,  that  venerable  man  refused  to  despair 
of  his  country,  and  set  the  brave  example  of  a  reaction  which  has 
raised  up  one  chance  more  to  England,  for  regulating  the  liberties  of 
her  people  and  restoring  the  security  of  her  state. 

The  family  of  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon  appears  to  have  branched 
from  the  stock  of  the  Scotts  of  Balweary.  And  accordingly,  soon 
after  his  elevation  to  the  peerage,  the  arms  of  the  Scotts  of  Balweary,* 
with  certain  honourable  augmentations,  were  granted  and  confirmed 
to  the  descendants  of  his  father. 

In  the  Peerage  of  Scotland ,  by  Sir  Robert  Douglas  of  Glenbervie, 
continued  by  Mr.  Wood,  is  the  following  passage  respecting  the 
name  of  Scott  :f 

"There  were  two  principal  houses  of  the  name  of  Scott  in  Scotland;  that  of  Buc- 
cleugh  in  the  south  and  west,  and  that  of  Balweary  in  Fife,  each  of  which  has 
branched  into  a  number  of  families  of  consequence.  These  two  houses  do  not 
appear  to  have  been  any  way  connected,  their  armorial  bearings  possessing  no 
similarity." 

The  author  goes  on  to  observe,  that  the  name  of  Scott  occurs 
frequently  in  records  of  early  date,  and  particularly  in  one  as  ancient 
as  the  year  1124;  and  refers,  for  an  account  of  the  Scotts  of  Bal- 
weary, to  Sir  Robert  Douglas's  Baronage  of  Scotland.  In  this  last- 
named  work,:}:  Sir  Robert  Douglas  begins  his  account  of  "  Scot  of 
Balweary,  now  represented  by  Sir  William  Scot  of  Ancrum,"  by 
observing  "  that  there  is  no  family  in  Scotland  of  this  surname  can 
justly  claim  a  higher  antiquity  than  that  of  Balwearie:"  and  he  pro- 
ceeds to  deduce  the  descent  of  this  family  to  his  own  time,  from 
their  direct  ancestor,  Sir  Michael  Scott,  ("a  man  of  property  and 
power"  in  the  county  of  Fife  towards  the  close  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury,) through  his  great-grandson,  Sir  Michael  Scott,  whose  mother 
was  the  heiress  of  Sir  Richard  Balweary. 

This  last-mentioned  Sir  Michael  Scott  is  no  less  a  person  than  Ihr 
wizard  whose  awful  grave  has  been  unveiled  to  later  times  by  th<% 
spell  of  a  more  lawful  magician.  The  notes  to  The  Lay  of  the  L<^i 
Minstrel  inform  us,  that 

"Sir  Michael  Scott  of  Balwearie  flourished  during  the  13th  century,  and  was  our 
of  the  ambassadors  sent  to  bring  the  Maid  of  Norway  to  Scotland,  upon  the  death  <>i 
Alexander  III.    He  was  a  man  of  much  learning,  chiefly  acquired  in  foreign  coun- 
tries.   He  wrote  a  commentary  upon  Aristotle,  printed  at   Venice   in  1' 
several  treatises  upon   natural  philosophy,  from  which  he  appears  to  have  I 

*  NOTE  BT  THE  PRBSIKT  EARL  OF  ELDO5.— These  arms,  borne  by  Lord  Eldon  and 
his  family  before  his  elevation  to  the  peerage,  are,  argent,  three  lions  heads,  er 
gules;  and  for  crest,  a  lion's  head,  erased,  gules. 

f  Dvuglat's  Peerage  of  ScatUmd,  Edin.  1813,  vol.  i.  p.  245. 

*  Douglas's  Baronage  of  Scotland,  Edin.  1798,  p.  302. 


20  LIFE  OF  LORD 

addicted  to  the  abstruse  studies  of  judicial  astrology,  alchymy,  physiognomy  and 
chiromancy.    Hence  he  passed  among  his  contemporaries  for  a  skilful  magician. 


"Lesly  characterizes  him  as  'singtilarie  philosophise,  astronomies,  ac  mfdldnse  laude 
prsEstans ;  dicebatiir  penitissimos  magix  reces&us  indaguss>e.'  Dante  also  mentions  him 
as  a  renowned  wizard: — 

'Quell'  altro  che  ne'  fianchi  e  cosi  poco 
Michele  Scotto  fu,  che  veramente 
Delle  magiche  frode  seppe  il  giuoco.' 

Inferno,  canto  xxmo. 

"The  memory  of  Sir  Michael  Scott  survives  in  many  a  legend;  and,  in  the  south 
of  Scotland,  any  work  of  great  labour  and  antiquity  is  ascribed  either  to  the  agency 
of  Auld  Michael,  of  Sir  William  Wallace,  or  of  the  devil."* 

Such  are  the  elder  traditions  of  Lord  Eldon's  race.  A  memoir  of 
the  more  modern  Scotts  was  found  among  his  papers,  in  the  hand- 
writing of  his  brother,  Lord  Stowell,  from  which  the  following  is  an 
extract : — 

"It  appears  to  have  been  an  ancient  practice  for  the  people  of 
the  North  to  resort  to  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  then  the  great  empo- 
ium  of  the  northern  parts  of  the  island,  for  the  purpose  of  making  or 
improving  a  fortune  by  merchandise.  Leland  mentions!  three  fami- 
lies particularly,  the  Caiiisles,  the  Thorntons  and  the  Scotts,  as 
raised  by  fortunate  adventurers  of  that  description,  being  first,  as  he 
says,  'merchants  and  men  of  land.'  Of  the  Scotts,  particularly,  he 
says,  '  the  beginning  of  these  Scotts  was  by  merchandise.  The  Black 
Freres  were  of  the  foundation  of  Sir  Peter  and  Sir  Nicholas  Scotts. 
Asket  Castle,  near  Felton,  was  these  Scotts\  The  lands  of  these  Scotts 
came  to  Herons  of  Ford,  to  Dentons,'  "  &c. 

"The  immediate  founder  of  the  present  family  (as  considered  by 
themselves)  was  William  Scott,  who  rose,  as  others  of  the  same 
name  had  done,  by  merchandise ;  being  a  considerable  merchant,  who 
(by  a  successful  application  of  his  industry  to  various  branches  of 
commerce  exercised  in  that  place  and  neighbourhood)  raised  a 
competent  fortune,  with  a  reputation  of  unsullied  integrity,  and  of 
a  singular  prudence  and  good  sense  both  in  the  management  of  his 
commercial  concerns  and  in  the  whole  tenour  of  his  general  conduct." 

This  was  the  father  of  Lord  Stowell  and  of  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon. 
By  indentures,  dated  the  1st  of  September,  1716,  describing  him  as 
William  Scott,  son  of  William  Scott  of  Sandgate,  yeoman,  he  was 
apprenticed  for  seven  years  to  Thomas  Brummel,  hoastman,  of  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne ;  an  apprentice  fee  of  <£5  being  paid  by  his  father, 
whom  family  tradition  describes  as  a  clerk  in  a  fitter's  office,  and  a 
man  of  very  good  repute.  The  apprentice  was  afterwards  assigned 
to  a  Mr.  Joseph  Colpitts,  with  whom  he  seems  to  have  served  out 
his  time ;  and  having,  by  virtue  of  his  apprenticeship,  become  enti- 
tled to  the  freedom  of  the  town  of  Newcastle,  he  took  it  up  on  the 
25th  of  August,  1724,  and  on  the  7th  of  September,  in  the  same 

*  See  Sir  Walter  Scott's  note  on  his  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,  canto  ii.  stanza  xiii. 
t  Leland's  Itinerary,  vol.  vi.  fol.  62. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  21 

year,  was  admitted  into  the  Hoastman's  Company,  which,  as  his  sons 
used  to  observe,  consisted  of  the  first  tradesmen  in  Newcastle.* 

His  residence  was  at  Newcastle,  and  his  principal  business  was 
that  of  a  coal-fitter.  The  coal-fitter  is  the  factor  who  conducts  the 
sales  between  the  owner  and  the  shipper,  taking  the  shipper's  order 
for  the  commodity,  supplying  the  cargo  to  him,  and  receiving  from 
him  the  price  of  it  for  the  owner ;  and  this  employment,  as  it  involves 
considerable  trust,  is  of  proportionate  respectability. 

Mr.  William  Scott,  a  complete  table  of  whose  descendants  is  given 
at  the  conclusion  of  this  biography,  was  twice  married.  By  his  first 
wife,  Isabella  Noble,  who  died  at  Newcastle  in  January,  1734,  and 
who  had  borne  him  three  children,  he  had  issue  of  three  generations, 
all  of  whom  are  now  extinct. 

He  married,  secondly,  (August  18th,  1740,  at  Horton,  Woodhorn, 
Northumberland,)  Jane  Atkinson,  daughter  of  Henry  Atkinson,  Es- 
quire, of  Newcastle.  He  lived  to.be  seventy-nine  years  of  age,  and 
she  to  be  ninety-one.  By  her  he  had  thirteen  children,  of  whom 
John,  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  was  the  eighth.  It  will  be  seen  from 
the  pedigree,  that  those  of  the  brothers  and  sisters  who  lived  to  be 
the  companions  of  John,  were  only  William,  Barbara,  Henry,  and 
the  last  of  the  three  Janes. 

The  circumstances  of  Lord  Stowell's  birth  were  remarkable.  There 
are  two  versions  of  them,  the  more  commonly  received  being  as  fol- 
lows:— 

On  the  17th  of  September,  1745,  the  city  of  Edinburgh  had  sur- 

*  NOTE  BT  THE  PRESENT  EAHL. — We  learn  from  Brand's  History  of  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne,  (1789,  vol.  ii.  p.  269,)  that  a  society  of  ostmen  or  hostmen  had  existed  as  a 
guild  or  fraternity  in  that  town  from  time  immemorial,  previous  to  their  incorporation 
by  charter  in  1600,  by  Queen  Elizabeth.  He  adds,  "the  cause  of  their  appointment 
seems  to  be  contained  in  the  subsequent  statute,  5  Hen.  4.  cap.  9.  (A.  D.  1404),  Mar- 
chants  aliens:  'And  also  it  is  ordained  and  established  that  in  everie  citie,  town, 
and  porte  of  the  sea  in  England,  where  the  saide  merchants  aliens  or  strangers 
be  or  shall  be  repairing,  sufficient  hoostes  shall  be  assigned  to  the  same  marchants 
by  the  maior,  sherifles,  or  bailiffes  of  the  said  cities,  townes  and  portes  of  the  sea; 
and  that  the  said  marchantes  aliens  and  strangers  shall  dwell  in  none  other  plase, 
but  with  their  said  hoostes  so  to  be  assigned,  and  that  the  same  hostes  so  to  be 
assigned  shall  take  for  their  travaile  in  the  raaner  as  was  accustomed  in  olde  time.' 
—Statutes  by  Barker,  1587,  vol.  i.  p.  228." 

Brand  further  states  that  it  appears,  from  the  earliest  entries  in  the  books  of  this 
society  of  hoastmen,  that  the  stranger  arriving  at  the  port  of  Tyne  to  bay  coals,  is 
called  "the  oaste;"  and  he  gives  an  engraving  of  "The  Seale  of  the  Freternity  of  the 
Ostmen  of  the  Towne  of  Newcasile-upon-Tine,"  representing  the  hoastman  receiv- 
ing the  stranger,  and  addressing  him  thus,  "Welcome  my  Oste."  He  quotes  also  that 
"Cambden.in  his  llritannia,  vol.  ii.  fol.  13 19,  gives  the  following  etymon:— 

"'The  word  hostmen  may  not  improperly  be  taken  to  be  traders  into  the  eastern 
parts  of  Europe,  and  may  have  their  name  from  the  Latin  word  oustmanni,  f.  e.  the 
eastmen,  as  trading  into  those  parts,  as  well  as  the  oustmanni,  i.e.  the  eastmen,  who 
came  from  the  seacoast  of  Germany  into  Ireland,  where,  under  colour  of  trade  and 
merchandise,  being  admitted  into  some  of  their  cities,  in  a  short  time  they  began  a 
very  terrible  war.' " 

The  fraternity  of  hoastmen  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  as  Brand  further  informs  us.  ar 
also  called  fitters ;  and  he  mentions  that  the  following  expressions  from  their  o1 
books  "will  best  explain  the  meaning  of  this  appellation.    'Acts  20  Januane,  IB 
7th.— None  shall  "  fitt"  any  keell  or  keells  of  anie  other  brother  without  the  consent  o 

the  owner  thereof,  &c.'— '  Fitt  Tyde'  occurs  ibid.    .    April  28,  1625,  •  to  fitt  and 

load  coles  abord  of  the  keeles,  &c.'  occurs." 


22  LIFE  OF  LORD 

rendered  to  the  Pretender's  army,  whose  road  to  London  lay  directly 
through  Newcastle.  The  town  walls  were  planted  with  cannon,  and 
every  preparation  was  made  for  a  siege.  In  this  state  of  things,  Mrs. 
Scott's  family  were  anxious  that,  she  should  remove  to  a  quieter  and 
safer  place.  The  narrow  lanes,  or,  as  they  are  called,  chares  of  New- 
castle, resembling  the  wynds  of  Edinburgh,  communicate  from  the 
upper  part  of  the  town  to  the  quay  side,  and  in  one  of  these,  named 
Love  Lane,  which  is  in  the  parish  of  All  Saints,  stood  the  residence 
of  Mr.  William  Scott,  conveniently  situate  for  the  shipping  with  which 
he  was  connected  ;  but  the  line  of  the  town  wall  at  that  time  ran  along 
the  quay  between  Love  Lane  and  the  River  Tyne :  and,  the  gates 
having  been  closed  and  fortified,  egress  in  any  ordinary  way  appeared 
almost  impossible.  This  obstacle,  however,  was  overcome  by  the 
courage  of  Mrs.  Scott,  who  caused  herself  to  be  hoisted  over  the  wall 
in  a  large  basket,  and  descended  safely  on  the  water  side,  where  a 
boat  lay  in  readiness.  It  conveyed  her  to  Heworth,  a  village  distant 
only  about  four  miles  from  Newcastle,  but  situate  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  Tyne,  within  the  county  palatine  of  Durham ;  and  at  He- 
worth  she  gave  birth  to  the  twins  William  and  Barbara. 

This  is  the  more  romantic  of  the  two  stories  ;  but  the  more  accurate 
is  probably  that  of  Mrs.  Forster,  the  granddaughter  of  Mrs.  Scott, 
communicated  in  a  letter  to  the  present  Lord  Eldon,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  an  extract: — 

«  14th  Jan.  1840. 

"I  was  above  twenty-six  years  of  age  when  my  grandmother  died,  and,  during  a 
constant  intercourse  with  her,  I  have  heard  her  repeat  the  circumstances  attending 
my  uncle  and  aunt's  births  hundreds  of  times;  and  I  am  the  more  anxious  to  send 
you  this  information,  as  of  late  years  romantic  accounts  have  got  into  various  publi- 
cations, which  are  totally  incorrect. 

"My  grandmother  Scott  being  with  child  in  the  year  of  the  Rebellion,  1745,  it  was 
deemed  more  prudent  for  her  to  be  confined  at  my  grandfather's  country  house  at  He- 
worth  than  in  the  town  of  Newcastle.  She  was  therefore  attended  at  Heworth  by  a 
midwife  who  delivered  her  of  a  male  infant  (afterwards  Lord  Stowell);  but  some  dif- 
ficulty arising  in  ihe  birth  of  the  second  child,  a  man  on  horseback  was  despatched  to 
Whickham  for  Dr.  Askew,  a  medical  practitioner  of  considerable  eminence  at  that 
time.  Dr.  Askew  not  being  at  home,  the  man  proceeded  to  Newcastle  for  Mr.  Hal- 
lowel.  When  Mr.  Hallovvel  reached  the  town  gate,  it  was,  on  account  of  the  Re- 
bellion, closed  for  the  night,  and  further  delay  becoming  serious,  instead  of  waiting 
until  permission  was  procured  from  the  mayor  for  his  egress,  he  was  let  down  from 
the  top  of  the  town  wall,  on  the  south  side,  and  proceeded  immediately  to  Heworth, 
where  he  delivered  my  grandmother." 

In  addition  to  the  entry  of  baptism  at  Heworth,  there  is,  in  the 
register  at  the  church  of  All  Saints,  the  parish  where  the  family  re- 
sided in  Newcastle,  a  record  in  these  words:  "Baptized  in  October, 
1745,  18,  William  and  Barbara,  twins  of  William  Scott,  Hoastman. 
Certifyd  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Leonard  Rumney,  Curate  of  Jarro  and  He- 
worth  :  occasioned  by  ye  present  rebellion." 

The  danger  being  past,  Mrs.  Scott  returned  to  her  home  in  Love 
Lane,  Newcastle ;  and  it  was  there  that,  on  the  4th  of  June,  1751, 
she  gave  birth  to  John,  afterwards  the  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon. 

The  manuscript  Anecdote  Book,  which  Lord  Eldon  wrote  in  his 
latter  years  for  his  grandson's  amusement  and  information,  and  of 
which  the  most  material  contents,  according  to  the  date  of  the  re- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  23 

spective  subjects,  will  be  found  in  the  following  pages,  begins  with 
this  cautious  record :  "  I  was  born,  I  believe,  on  the  4th  of  June, 
1751.'"  It  appears  from  the  register  of  the  parish  church  of  All 
Saints,  Newcastle,  that  he  was  baptized  on  the  4th  of  the  following 
July. 

The  house  in  Love  Lane,  in  which  he  was  born,  remained  after- 
wards standing  for  many  years.  When  it  was  pulled  down,  some 
small  houses  were  built  on  a  part  of  its  site,  and  the  remainder  was 
bought  by  the  corporation  of  Newcastle,  who  converted  the  ground 
to  the  widening  of  Forster  Street.  The  house  to  which  Mr.  William 
Scott  had  removed,  on  leaving  his  before-mentioned  residence,  was 
also  situated  in  Love  Lane,  and  built  by  himself.  It  was  sold  by 
Lord  Stowell  after  the  death  of  his  mother,  but  it  is  still  standing, 
with  a  large  warehouse  added  to  it;  and,  having  been  the  abode 
of  Lord  Eldon  in  his  childhood,  it  has  been  mistaken  for  his  birth- 
place. Such  was  the  respect  attaching  to  it  on  that  account,  that, 
there-  being  occasion  to  remove  part  of  an  oak  beam  from  it,  the 
piece  was  carefully  preserved  by  one  of  his  townsmen,  Mr.  Robert 
Gilchrist,  who  presented  him,  in  1829,  with  a  box  manufactured 
from  that  ancient  relic. 

The  lower  extremity  of  any  of  these  lanes  or  chares  is  called  the 
chare  foot ;  and  Lord  Eldon  is  said  to  have  one  day  stated  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery  that  he  had  been  born  in  a  chare  foot.* 

*  NOTE  BY  THE  PRESENT  EAHL. — Several  of  the  most  remarkable  events  of  Lord 
Eldon's  life  are  found  related  in  such  of  his  letters  to  his  family  and  friends  as 
have  been  preserved  by  them ;   and  he  has  left  a  very  few  isolated  memoranda. 
The  only  collected  record  which  has  come  from  his  own  pen  is  one  which  he  wrote 
for  me,  when,  during  the  summer  vacation  of  1824,  I  earnestly  requested  him  to 
commit  to  writing  the  interesting  anecdotes  with  which  his  conversation  abounded. 

A  few  pages  on  detached  sheets  were  the  first-fruits  of  his  ready  and  good-natured 
compliance.  A  volume  was  afterwards  procured  for  the  purpose;  and  on  Saturday, 
December  18th,  1824,  the  Anecdote  Book,  as  it  was  usually  called  (the  Eldon  Anec- 
dote Book,  as  it  may  now  most  properly  be  designated),  was  commenced.  It  begins 
by  a  brief  enumeration  of  the  principal  events  of  Lord  Eldon's  life,  and  the  dates  at 
which  they  occurred:  it  then  proceeds  with  a  series  of  anecdotes,  not  written  in  any 
particular  order,  but  put  down  in  succession  as  Lord  Eldon's  own  recollection,  or 
my  memoranda  of  the  topics  presented  them  to  his  attention.  As  the  writer  became 
more  interested  in  it,  he  interspersed  it  with  some  fuller  details  of  subjects  which  had 
occupied  his  professional  and  political  thoughts,  and  which  were  beyond  the  scope  of 
its  original  character.  It  still,  however,  is  in  no  wise  to  be  considered  as  a  studied 
or  laboured  work ;  it  was  written  off  hand,  not  transcribed  from  any  rough  copies, 
with,  perhaps,  the  single  exception  of  what  Lord  Eldon  gives  as  "the  Speech  of  the 
Duke  of  York  on  the  Roman  Catholic  question,  copied  from  a  paper,  in  which  I 
wrote  it  down,  immediately  after  my  return  from  the  House  of  Lords,  in  1825:" 
even  the  anecdotes  which  had  been  written  detachedly  in  the  summer  of  1824  were 
not  copied  into  it,  but  were  written  anew ;  and  there  is  scarcely  a  blot  or  erasure  in 
the  whole  volume,  which  consists  of  about  160  pages,  closely  written,  and  of  what 
is  commonly  called  letter-paper  size;  while,  nevertheless,  there  are  but  few  clerical 
errors  to  be  found  in  it. 

*  There  is  a  story,  too,  that  at  the  Newcastle  assizes,  in  a  case  where  a  witness 
swore  that  at  a  certain  time  he  saw  three  men  come  out  of  the  foot  of  a  chare,  the 
judge  who  tried  the  indictment  recommended  it  to  the  jury  to  take  no  notice  of  this 
evidence,  as  being  decidedly  that  of  an  insane  person.    The  foreman  of  the  jury, 
however,  restored  the  credit  of  the  witness,  by  explaining  that  the  chare,  from 
whose  foot  the  three  men  had  been  seen  to  issue,  was  not  an  article  of  furniture 
but  a  narrow  street. 


24  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Lord  Eldon's  elder  sister,  Barbara,  used  to  relate  that,  during  one 
of  their  mother's  confinements,  "Master  Jacky  being  in  her  room 
in  a  go-cart,  the  nurse  quitted  her  for  something  that  was  wanted, 
leaving  the  door  open ;  away  went  Master  Jacky  after  her,  tumbling 
down  a  whole  flight  of  steps,  go-cart  and  all.  Mrs.  Scott  got  a  great 
fright,  being  unable  to  get  out  of  bed  to  stop  him."  But  no  other 
mischief  seems  to  have  ensued. 

When  William  Scott  was  old  enough  to  begin  his  education,  his 
father  sent  him  to  a  mistress's  school  to  be  taught  to  read.  He  very 
soon,  however,  stoutly  refused  to  go,  and  told  his  father  he  would  go 
to  a  master,  but  he  would  not  be  taught  by  any  old  woman  living. 
He  was  then  about  four  years  old.  Mr.  Scott  was  pleased  with  the 
boy's  spirit,  and  sent  him  to  Mr.  Warden,  an  approved  master  of  that 
day,  and  long  remembered  in  Newcastle  by  the  name  of  Dominie 
Warden.  John  afterwards  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education 
from  the  same  instructor.  His  manner  of  teaching  to  read  had  this 
peculiarity,  that  instead  of  sounding  each  consonant  with  an  auxiliary 
vowel,  as  B  be,  F  ef,  K  ka,  and  so  forth,  he  confined  the  expression 
of  each  consonant  to  its  own  almost  mute  sound,  as  B,  F,  or  K.  This 
mode  of  muffling  the  consonants  is  said  to  have  been  very  successful 
with  the  learners. 

At  suitable  ages,  the  three  young  Scotts  were  sent  to  the  Royal 
Grammar  School,  then  called  the  Head  School,  and  anciently  the 
Hye  School,  founded  by  Thomas  Horsley,  mayor  of  Newcastle  in  the 
years  1525  and  1533* — "to  be  free  for  any  within  or  without  that 
town."  He  left  lands  for  its  maintenance,  and  the  corporation  of 
the  town,  in  whom  he  vested  the  patronage,  added  a  stipend  of  four 
marks  yearly  for  ever.  Its  first  situation  was  in  St.  Nicholas's  church- 
yard, in  a  building  on  the  northeast  side  of  the  church.  Afterwards, 
when  it  became  a  royal  foundation,  under  a  charter  granted  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  in  the  forty-second  year  of  her  reign,  it  was  removed  to 
the  hospital  of  St.  Mary,  in  the  Westgate.  The  charter  declares  the 
queen's  regard  for  the  instruction  of  youth,  from  their  tender  years, 
in  the  rudiments  of  the  true  Christian  religion,  and  in  learning  and 
good  manners ;  directs  that  the  foundation  be  styled  the  Free  Grammar 
School  of  Queen  Elizabeth ;  and  constitutes  the  master  and  scholars 
a  body  corporate. 

Bentley's  celebrated  antagonist  Richard  Dawes,  the  author  of  the 
Miscellanea  Critica,  had  been  head  master  of  this  school  from  1738 
to  1749,  in  the  latter  of  which  years  he  resigned,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  Rev.  Hugh  Moises,  fellow  of  Peterhouse.  Dawes's  eccen- 
tricities had  reduced  the  number  of  the  scholars.  The  assailant  of  the 
formidable  Bentley  had,  according  to  the  Biographia  Britannica,  been 
much  addicted  to  the  amusement  of  bell-ringing,  until  he  relinquished 
his  employments  and  retired  to  He  worth,  the  little  village  on  the 
Tyne,  before  mentioned  as  the  birth-place  of  the  twins ;  where,  instead 
of  ringing,  he  took  to  rowing.  His  successor,  Mr.  Moises,  by  the 

*  See  Brand's  History  of  Newcastle,  vol.  i.  p.  86. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  25 

agreeable  manners  and  decorous  conduct  which  he  combined  with 
his  very  considerable  learning,  soon  restored  the  school  to  its  reputa- 
tion and  popularity.  He  received  no  boarders,  but  was  unremitting 
in  his  attention  to  his  pupils ;  and  the  school  had  in  his  time  this 
further  advantage,  as  a  place  of  education,  that  the  principles  of 
mathematical  science  were  then  taught  there  by  no  less  considerable 
a  master  than  the  afterwards  celebrated  Professor  Hutton.  With  such 
facilities  for  instruction,  the  town  of  Newcastle,  when  distant  journeys 
were  more  tedious  and  expensive  than  at  present,  recommended  itself 
very  generally  to  the  northern  country  gentlemen  who  had  boys  to  be 
educated.  The  custom  that  the  masters  of  this  school  should  teach 
there  in  their  university-gowns  gave  additional  dignity  to  the  business 
of  instruction. 

We  learn,  from  the  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Moises,  written  by  his  pupil, 
the  Rev.  John  Brewster,  rector  of  Egglesclifie,*  that  when  the  Scotts 
were  at  the  school,  the  arrangement  of  it  was  as  follows: — 

"Mr.  Moises,  as  head-master,  with  the  senior  scholars,  occupied  the  inner  apart- 
ment or  election  room  ;  the  second  master's  place  was  on  a  platform  elevation  of 
two  steps  at  the  upper  end  of  the  school-room ;  and  the  third  master's  seat  was 
near  the  lower  end.  The  master,  who  first  came  into  school  in  the  morning,  read 
a  selection  of  prayers  from  the  Liturgy,  from  the  second  master's  seat ;  and  one  of 
the  senior  boys  read  a  chapter  of  the  New  Testament,  from  a  pew  or  rostrum  rising 
behind  it.  After  this,  the  business  of  the  day  commenced.  I  do  not  imagine  that  the 
practice  of  the  school  differed  essentially  from  that  of  the  higher  schools,  so  justly 
celebrated  in  this  country.  The  boys  were  arranged  in  classes,  according  to  their 
age  and  attainments;  and,  that  all  might  come  under  the  head-master's  eye,  every 
Friday  was  appointed  as  his  day  of  hearing  of  the  lower  schools.  Mr.  Moises  had  a 
pleasing  and  familiar  way  of  interpreting  the  Latin  classics,  particularly  Horace 
and  Terence.  When  the  lesson  came  from  Terence,  the  boys  were  delighted  with 
the  dramatic  turn  which  the  master  gave  to  the  interpretation.  He  read  also  the 
comedies  of  Plautus  with  the  same  effect.  Mr.  Moises  was  particularly  distinguished 
by  his  knowledge  of  the  Greek  choruses,  and,  therefore,  Sophocles,  Euripides  and 
Aristophanes  were  read  in  the  school.  The  senior  boys  also  read  the  orations  of 
Isocrates,  the  oration  of  ^Eschines  in  Clesiphontem,  and  of  Demosthenes  de  Corona. 
He  also  required  a  translation  of  the  whole  of  the  Commentary  of  Longinus  on  the 
Sublime,-  and  expected  a  particular  account  of  all  their  studies.  Sometimes  he  lent 
them  books,  which  were  not  in  the  course  of  school  reading.  Latin  and  English 
declamations,  and  the  usual  themes,  were  part  of  the  exercises  of  the  school;  and 
when  any  boy  did  not  write  Latin  verse  with  some  taste  for  that  mode  of  composi- 
tion, he  was  not  compelled  invita  Minerva  to  attempt  it,  but  he  was  required  to  finish 
his  English  essays  with  peculiar  niceness.  This  led  many  of  his  pupils  to  the  early 
practice  of  English  prose  composition;  and  to  such  as  were  intended  for  holy  orders 
he  recommended  to  compose  their  oum  sermons.  '  These,'  he  used  to  say, '  will  not  be 
such,  perhaps,  as  you  will  approve  of  in  maturer  years,  but  they  will  give  you  such 
an  habit  of  study  and  composition  as  will  be  of  essential  advantage.  Having  used 
them,  burn  them,  and  write  others.' 

"Mr.  Moises  was  particularly  attentive  to  the  instruction  which  he  gave  to  young 
men  just  enteringnpon  the  study  of  divinity:  and  as  his  kclureson  the  New  Testament, 
as  I  may  truly  call  them,  were  delivered  to  the  two  or  three  upper  classes  every  morn- 
ing as  their  first  lesson,  they  became  more  or  less  the  study  of  all.  The  chapter 
which  was  read  at  prayers  was  the  text  of  the  day;  it  was  construed  from  the  origi- 
nal into  Latin  by  the  scholars,  and  elucidated,  verse  by  verse,  by  the  master.  This 
mode  of  viva  voce  interpretation  had  a  great  effect. 

"  It  is  not  easy  to  describe  the  easy  and  familiar  manner  with  which  Mr.  Moises  met 
his  scholars.  They  appeared  never  to  be  absent  from  his  mind.  His  heart,  indeed, 
seemed  to  be  absorbed  in  his  profession;  but  not  as  a  drudge  intent  on  the  mmuMa; 
of  his  office,  but  acting  towards  them  with  such  an  open  liberality  of  sentiment  on 

«  1823.    Private  impression,  printed  by  Walker,  Pilgrim  Street,  Newcastle. 


26  LIFE  OF  LORD 

the  subjects  of  his  instruction,  that  his  pupils,  whilst  they  received  the  benefit  of  his 
parental  observations,  accepted  them  as  the  offer  of  one  bent  on  their  improvement; 
presented,  as  they  were,  with  an  urbanity  always  acceptable  and  conciliating." — 
Brewster,  pp.  26—29. 

One  of  the  first  pages  of  Lord  Eldon's  Anecdote  Book  contains 
this  affectionate  reminiscence  of  his  instructor : — 

"  The  head-master  was  that  eminent  scholar  and  most  excellent 
man,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Moises.  I  shall  hold  his  memory  in  the  utmost 
veneration  whilst  I  continue  to  exist.  There  were  also  excellent 
ushers  in  that  school  whilst  I  continued  in  it.  I  gratefully  mention 
the  names  of  Mr.  Clarkson,  Mr.  Hall,  Mr.  King,  and  Mr.  Walters." 

William  and  John  Scott  were  both  of  them  diligent  scholars,  and 
great  favourites  with  their  master.  John,  though  of  a  less  joyous 
temperament  than  his  elder  brother,  was  generally  beloved  for  his 
kind  and  gentle  disposition.  The  distinction  in  the  constitution  of 
their  minds  at  that  early  period  is  marked  by  a  little  circumstance 
related  in  a  memoir  of  Lord  Stowell  :* — 

"  When  asked  to  give  an  account  of  the  Sunday  sermon,  their  father's  weekly 
custom,  the  eldest,  William,  would  repeat  a  sort  of  digest  of  the  general  argument — 
a  condensed  summary  of  what  he  had  heard;  John,  on  the  other  hand,  would  recapitu- 
late the  minutiaB  of  the  discourse,  and  reiterate  the  very  phrase  of  the  preacher.  He 
showed  a  memory  the  most  complete  and  exact;  but  failed  in  giving  the  whole  scope 
and  clear  general  view  of  the  sermon  embodied  in  half  the  number  of  words  by  the 
elder  brother." 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  between  William's  age  and 
that  of  his  younger  brother,  there  was  a  difference  of  more  than  five 
years  and  a  half. 

"Lord  Eldon's  school-boy  days,"  says  Mr.  Brewster,  in  a  letter  to  the  present  earl, 
dated  January  1839,  "are  well  worth  remarking,  as  they  bespeak  the  uniformity  and 
steadiness  of  his  future  character.  I  knew  he  was  a  favourite  with  his  venerable 
master,  who  often  mentioned  his  abilities,  and  recommended  him  to  the  imitation  of 
his  scholars.  His  affable  temper  rendered  him  a  favourite,  too,  with  his  schoolfellows ; 
of  whom,  I  believe,  the  writer  of  this  is  among  the  last. 

"I  was  much  interested  in  the  venerable  Lord  Eldon's  recollection  of  his  own 
school,  as  mentioned  by  himself  in  one  of  the  last  judgments,  which  he  delivered  in 
the  Court  of  Chancery. — 'As  the  institution  of  these  grammar-schools,'  he  said,  'was 
expressed  by  the  legislature  to  be  for  the  purpose,  amongst  others,  of  forwarding  the 
progress  of  the  Reformation,  we  find,  in  almost  all  of  them,  provisions  made  that 
there  should  be,  to  a  considerable  extent,  prayer  and  attendance  upon  public  worship, 
according  to  the  reformed  church.  I  remember,  that  when  I  had  the  benefit  of  an 
education  at  one  of  these  grammar-schools  the  education  was  carried  on,  in  what,  I 
believe,  was  once  a  capella  or  sacellum:  that  the  boys  educated  there  were  headed 
by  their  venerable  master  to  church  constantly  upon  Sundays;  and  that  part  of  the 
duty  of  a  master  of  a  grammar-school  was,  in  those  days,  as  much  attended  to  as 
teaching  the  scholars  what  else  they  ought  there  to  acquire.  Whether  the  practice 
is  now  continued  in  grammar-schools,  I  do  not  know,  but. this  I  know,  that  it  ought 
still  to  be  attended  to,  as  much  as  ever.'  " 

The  only  serious  disaster  which  happened  to  John  Scott  in  his 
boyhood,  was  a  fall  backward,  from  a  window  seat,  against  a  desk  or 
bench — so  severe  as  to  lay  open  his  head  and  leave  him  insensible 
on  the  ground.  His  intellects  and  even  his  life  were  for  some  time 
despaired  of:  and  to  the  end  of  his  days  there  remained  a  deep 
indentation  near  the  crown  of  the  skull. 

*  Law  Magazine,  No.  xxxiii.  art.  2. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  27 

On  another  occasion,  being  curious  to  see  what  was  within  a  hole 
or  window  beneath  the  stone  steps  of  a  gentleman's  house,  he  passed 
his  head  between  the  iron  rails,  and  was  unable  to  draw  it  back  again. 
From  this  pillory  he  was  released  by  a  female  beggar  passing  by. 

In  those  days,  the  small  town  of  Chester-le-Street,  a  little  more 
than  eight  miles  southward  of  Newcastle,  on  the  London  road,  was 
celebrated  for  a  kind  of  shortcake  irresistible  to  the  juvenile  portion 
of  society :  and  to  that  town,  one  fine  afternoon,  John  and  his  brother 
Henry,  who  was  about  three  years  older,  took  a  journey  on  foot. 
They  loitered  there  so  long  that  the  evening  set  in :  and  a  friend  of 
their  father's,  finding  them  about  to  return  at  so  uncomfortable  an  hour, 
dissuaded  them  from  their  intent,  and  gave  them  supper  and  bed  at 
his  own  house.  Meanwhile,  through  that  night  and  the  early  part 
of  the  next  morning,  the  family  in  Love  Lane  were  distracted  with 
apprehension.  In  vain  the  town  of  Newcastle  was  searched  through 
all  its  streets  and  chares  :  in  vain,  when  morning  came,  the  crier  pro- 
claimed at  every  corner  the  loss  of  the  two  little  truants:  until,  safe 
and  sound,  though  somewhat  tired  with  their  eight  miles'  walk,  they 
presented  themselves,  in  the  forenoon,  at  their  father's  door.  There, 
for  their  exploit,  they  instantly  received  the  meed  of  a  whipping,  with 
which  memento  they  were  sent  to  school.  But  this  was  not  the  close 
of  their  troubles  :  for  the  schoolmaster,  having  learned  from  the  pro- 
clamation of  the  crier,  that  the  young  gentlemen  had  been  on  their 
travels  without  furlough,  thought  it  necessary  to  mark  his  opinion  of 
their  adventure  by  the  administration  of  a  second  flogging. 

The  following  are  some  of  Lord  Eldon's  own  recollections  of  his 
school  days,  communicated  by  him  late  in  life  to  his  niece  Mrs.  For- 
ster,  to  Lady  Eldon's  nephew  Mr.  John  Surtees,  and  to  others  of  his 
connections:  — 

"  I  believe,"  said  he  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "  no  boy  was  ever  so  much 
thrashed  as  I  was.  When  we  went  to  school  we  had  to  go  by  the 
Stock  Bridge.  In  going  to  school  we  seldom  had  any  time  to  spare, 
so  Bill  and  Harry  used  to  run  as  hard  as  they  could,  and  poor  Jacky's 
legs  not  being  so  long  or  so  strong,  he  was  left  behind.  Now  you 
must  know  there  was  eternal  war  waged  between  the  Head  School 
lads,  and  all  the  boys  of  the  other  schools  ;  so  the  Stockbriggers 
seized  the  opportunity  of  poor  Jacky  being  alone,  to  give  him  a  good 
drubbing.  Then,  on  our  way  home,  Bill  and  Harry  always  thrashed 
them  in  return,  and  that  was  my  revenge ;  but  then  it  was  a  revenge 
that  did  not  cure  my  sore  bones." 

"  Mr.  Surtees,  when  your  father  and  I  were  boys,  and  that  is  now 
a  long  time  ago,  I  remember  our  stealing  down  the  Side,  and  along 
the  Sandhill,  and  creeping  into  every  shop,  where  we  blew  out  the 
candles.  We  crept  in  along  the  counter,  then  pop't  our  heads  up, 
out  went  the  candles,  and  away  went  we.  We  escaped  detection." 

"  Mr.  Moises  had  one  day  got  hold  of  a  book  belonging  to  one  of 
his  boys,  in  which  the  urchin  had  written, 

'  Turn  over  this  leaf  and  yon  will  see  plain :' 


20  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"  '  Well,'  said  Mr.  Moises,  after  reading  that  line  aloud  to  the  class, 
'  what  is  it  that  I  shall  see  ?'  He  forthwith  turned  over  the  page,  and 
reading  the  next  line,  set  the  whole  school  into  roars  of  laughter, 

*  Fools  will  be  meddling,  so  turn  back  again !' 

"  '  Oh  you  blockhead !'  he  said,  and  returned  the  book  to  the 
owner." 

"  I  was  once,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "  the  seventeenth 
boy  whom  Moises  flogged,  and  richly  did  we  merit  it.  There  was 
an  elderly  lady  who  lived  in  Westgate  Street,  whom  we  surrounded 
in  the  street,  and  would  not  allow  her  to  go  either  backward  or  for- 
ward ;  she  complained  to  Mr.  Moises  and  he  flogged  us  all ;  when 
he  came  to  me,  he  exclaimed :  — '  What,  Jack  Scott,  were  you  there 
too?'  and  I  was  obliged  to  say,  'Yes,  sir.'  —  'I  will  not  stop,' 
replied  he,  'you  shall  all  have  it ;'  but  I  think  I  came  off'  best,  for 
his  arm  was  rather  tired  with  sixteen  who  went  before  me." 

"  I  have  been  very  ill  used,  Mary,  first  by  my  father,  and  then  by 
my  brother  Lord  Stowell.  —  My  father  promised  me  half  a  crown  if  I 
said  my  catechism  well  at  church.  I  did  say  it,  and  I  assure  you  I 
said  it  very  well ;  but  my  half  crown  I  never  received ;  and  though 
I  tell  my  brother  Will  that  it  is  as  much  a  just  debt  of  my  father's 
as  any  other,  and  that  therefore  he,  as  executor,  is  bound  to  pay  it, 
yet  he  always  refuses.  Very  hard  upon  me,  for  I  said  my  catechism 
very  well  indeed.  Do  they  still  catechise  the  boys  at  church,  Mary  ? 
We  used  not  only  to  say  our  catechism,  but  every  part  was  to  be 
proved.  '  How  do  you  prove  that  2d  class  ?'  —  '2d  Romans,  3d 
verse,'  and  so  on:  (laying  a  great  stress  on  the  Newcastle  R.) 
Thus  you  see,  by  the  time  we  left  school  we  were  very  tolerable 
theologians  :  the  practice  ought  not  to  be  left  off.  —  But  I  was  very 
ill  used  about  that  half  crown." 

When  chancellor,  he  gave  the  following  piece  of  evidence  against 
his  own  character,  to  Mr.  Chisholme,  his  solicitor: — "My  father," 
said  he  "  agreed  with  a  master,  who  kept  a  writing-school,  to  teach 
me  the  art  of  penmanship  there,  for  half  a  guinea  a  quarter.  In  the 
whole  of  the  three  months  I  attended  that  school  but  once.  My  father 
knew  nothing  of  this,  and  at  the  quarter's  end  gave  me  a  half  guinea  to 
pay  the  master.  When  I  took  it  to  the  school,  the  master  said  he  did 
not  know  how  he  could  properly  receive  it,  since  he  had  given  no- 
thing in  exchange  for  it.  I  said  that  he  really  must  take  it :  that  I 
could  not  possibly  carry  it  back  to  my  father.  '  Well,'  replied  he, '  if  I 
am  to  take  it,  at  all  events  I  must  give  you  something  for  it :  so  come 
here.'  And,  upon  my  going  up  to  him,  he  took  the  money  with  one 
hand,  and  with  the  other  gave  me — a  box  on  the  ear  which  sent  me 
reeling  against  the  wainscot ; — and  that  was  the  way  I  first  learned  to 
write." 

After  this,  the  writing-master  seems  to  have  been  more  vigilant. 
"  I  think,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "  I  write  remarkably 
well  considering  how  I  played  truant  from  the  writing-school.  I 
remember  Harry  and  I,  going  home  one  evening,  found  my  father  in 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  29 

the  dining-room.  f  Harry,'  said  he,  ( were  you  at  the  writing-school 
to  day?' — 'Oh  yes,  papa,'  answered  Harry. — 'And  were  you  there, 
Jack  ?' — Now  you  know  my  elder  brother  had  said  yes,  so  what  could 
I  do  but  follow  his  example?  so  I  said  'Yes,  papa.' — 'And  were  you 
there  yesterday?'' — 'Yes,  sir.'  'And  the  day  before?' — 'Yes,  sir.' — 
'And  the  day  before  that?' — '  Yes,  sir.' — '  Walk  out,  Mr.  Benson  :' — 
gand  from  behind  the  door  out  walked  our  writing-master,  who  had 
come  down  to  complain  that  we  had  not  been  at  his  school  the  whole 
week.  We  were  twice  flogged  for  that,  once  by  my  father  and  once 
by  Mr.  Benson." 

"  Between  school  hours  we  used  to  amuse  ourselves  with  playing 
at  what  we  called  '  cock  nibs  ' — that  was  riding  on  grave  stones  in 
St.  John's  churchyard,  which,  you  know,  was  close  to  the  school. — 
Well,  one  day  one  of  the  lads  came  shouting  '  Here  comes  Moises' — 
that  was  what  we  always  called  him,  Moises, — so  away  we  all  ran  as 
hard  as  we  could,  and  I  lost  my  hat.  Now  if  you  remember,  there 
were  four  or  five  steps  going  down  to  the  school,  a  sort  of  passage. 
Unfortunately  a  servant  was  coming  along  with  a  pudding  for  the 
bake-house,  and  in  my  hurry,  when  Moises  was  coming,  I  jumped 
down  these  steps  and  into  the  pudding.  What  was  to  be  done?  I 
borrowed  another  boy's  great  coat,  and  buttoned  it  on,  over  my  own 
coat,  waistcoat,  pudding  and  all,  and  so  we  went  into  school.  Now 
when  I  came  out,  I  was  in  an  unforeseen  dilemma,  for  this  great  coat 
had  stuck  to  my  own  ;  another  boy's  coat  sticking  to  me,  and  my 
own  hat  lost !  here  was  an  unfortunate  situation ! — with  great  diffi- 
culty the  coat  was  pulled  off;  but  my  father  was  very  angry  at  my 
losing  my  hat,  and  he  made  me  go  without  one  till  the  usual  time  of 
taking  my  best  into  every  day  wear."  Mrs.  Forster  adds,  "  Lord 
Eldon,  on  this  occasion,  went  three  months,  Sundays  excepted,  with- 
out a  hat." 

"  I  remember,"  said  Lord  Eldon,  "  my  father  coming  to  my  bed- 
side to  accuse  Harry  and  me  of  having  robbed  an  orchard  :  some  one 
had  come  to  complain.  Now  my  coat  was  lying  by  my  bed  with  its 
pockets  full  of  apples,  and  I  had  hid  some  more  under  the  bed- 
clothes, when  I  heard  my  father  on  the  stairs :  and  I  was  at  that  mo- 
ment suffering  intolerable  torture  from  those  I  had  eaten.  Yet  I  had 
the  audacity  to  deny  the  fact.  We  were  twice  flogged  for  it.  I  do 
not  know  how  it  was,  but  we  always  considered  robbing  an  orchard 
as  an  honourable  exploit.  I  remember  once  being  carried  before  a 
magistrate  for  robbing  an  orchard  ;  '  boxing  the  fox,'  as  we  called  it. 
There  were  three  of  us,  Hewit  Johnson,  another  boy  and  myself.  The 
magistrate  acted  upon  what  I  think  was  rather  curious  law,  for  he 
fined  our  fathers  each  thirty  shillings  for  our  offence.  We  did  not 
care  for  that  but  then  they  did :  so  my  father  flogged  me  and  then  sent 
a  message  to  Moises,  and  Moises  flogged  me  again.  We  wese  very 
good  boys,  very  good  indeed  :  we  never  did  any  thing  worse  than  a 
robbery." 

Mrs.  Forster  adds,  "  When  any  of  his  boys  were  not  down  stairs 
at  the  proper  time  in  the  morning,  Mr.  Scott  used  to  ascend  to  their 


30  LIFE  OF  LORD 

room  with  a  pair  of  leather  taws,  which  he  laid  across  the  delinquents' 
shoulders.  Harry  and  Jack  being  rather  fond  of  their  beds,  and  apt 
to  receive  this  chastisement  pretty  often,  determined  upon  stealing 
the  taws,  an  exploit  they  successfully  achieved.  From  that  lime  Mr. 
Scott,  who  never  replaced  them,  used  to  go  to  their  room  with  his 
hand  under  his  dressing-gown,  as  if  ready  to  inflict  the  usual  punish- 
ment, while  the  boys  lay  still  until  the  last  moment  in  secure  enjoy- 
ment." 

"  These  taws,  a  piece  of  strong  leather  cut  into  several  thongs, 
were  produced  every  year  at  my  grandfather's  (Henry's)  house,  when 
my  uncle  (Lord  Eldon)  was  with  him,  and  they  used  to  recount,  with 
the  greatest  glee  and  triumph,  this  exploit  of  stealing  them,  and  their 
amusement  in  seeing  the  old  gentleman  enter  their  room  with  his 
hand  under  his  dressing-gown." 

"  I  believe,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "  I  have  preached 
more  sermons  than  any  one  who  is  not  a  clergyman.  My  father 
always  had  the  church  service  read  on  Sunday  evenings  and  a  sermon 
after  it.  Harry  and  I  used  to  take  it  in  turns  to  read  the  prayers  or 
to  preach :  we  always  had  a  shirt  put  on  over  our  clothes  to  answer 
for  a  surplice." 

"  I  should  have  been  a  very  good  dancer,  only  they  never  could 
get  this  left  arm  to  conduct  itself  gracefully :  and  yet  I  had  eight 
dancing  masters.  I  remember  one  of  them  complaining  that  I  took 
no  pains  with  that  left  arm.  '  I  do  not  know  how  it  is,'  said  he ; 
'  Mr.  Moises  says  you  are  a  very  good  boy,  but  I  do  not  find  you  so.' 
I  had  the  impudence  to  look  him  up  in  the  face  and  say — '  but  you 
are  not  Mr.  Moises,  sir.' ' 

Mrs.  Forster. — "  But  I  remember,  uncle,  hearing  of  Master  Jacky 
being  celebrated  for  the  hornpipes  he  danced  at  Christmas :  there 
was  an  old  keelman  in  the  hospital  at  Newcastle  who  talked  of  your 
hornpipes." 

Lord  Eldon. — "  Oh  yes,  I  danced  hornpipes:  at  Christmas,  when 
my  father  gave  a  supper  and  a  dance  at  Love  Lane  to  all  the  keelmen 
in  his  employ,  Harry  and  I  always  danced  hornpipes." 

Mrs.  Forster  adds,  "the  supper  which,  about  Christmas,  Mr.  Scott 
used  to  give  his  keelmen,  was  what  was  called  a  binding  supper ; 
that  was  a  supper  when  the  terms  on  which  they  were  to  serve  for  the 
ensuing  year  were  agreed  upon.  Patterson,  the  last  surviving  keel- 
man in  Mr.  Scott's  employment,  dined  in  our  kitchen  every  Christ- 
mas day  until  his  death,  about  ten  years  ago.  He  expatiated  with 
great  delight  upon  the  splendid  hornpipe  that  Master  Jacky  regularly 
danced  for  their  amusement  after  these  suppers." 

This  veteran  was  not  destitute  in  his  old  age ;  and  Lord  Stowell 
made  him  an  annual  present  to  add  to  his  comforts  at  Christmas. 

"  I  ielieve,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "  no  shoemaker  ever 
helped  to  put  on  more  ladies'  shoes  than  I  have  done.  At  the  danc- 
ing-school, the  young  ladies  always  brought  their  dancing  shoes  with 
them,  and  we  deemed  it  a  proper  piece  of  etiquette  to  assist  the  pretty 
girls  in  putting  them  on. — In  those  days,  girls  of  the  best  families  wore 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  31 

white  stockings  only  on  the  Sundays,  and  one  week  day  which  was 
a  sort  of  public  day : — on  the  other  days,  they  wore  blue  Doncaster 
woollen  stockings  with  white  tags." 

"  We  used,  when  we  were  at  the  Head  School,  early  on  the  Sun- 
day mornings,  to  steal  flowers  from  the  gardens  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Forth,  and  then  we  presented  them  to  our  sweethearts.  Oh, 
those  were  happy  days — we  were  always  in  love  then." 


32  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  II. 
1761—1771. 

Oxford. — William  Scott's  Durham  scholarship. — Letters,  characters,  and  anecdote  of 
Mr.  Scott,  the  father. — William  Scott's  fellowship. — John  Scott's  entrance  at  Oxford. 
— Sat  cito  si  sat  bene. — John  Scott's  fellowship:  his  pursuits  and  friendships:  his 
Oxford  anecdotes  and  jokes:  his  prize  for  the  English  essay:  his  earliest  extant 
letter. — Pranks. 

A  SCHOLARSHIP  for  the  diocese  of  Durham  having  become  vacant 
at  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford,  Mr.  Scott,  senior,  aware  of  his 
son  William's  extraordinary  talents,  resolved  that  the  youth,  who  was 
then  in  his  sixteenth  year,  should  avail  himself  of  his  accidental  birth 
within  that  diocese  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  honour.  William, 
therefore,  proceeded  to  Oxford,  and,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1761, 
passed  the  examination  for  the  scholarship  with  high  distinction  :  but 
a  whimsical  mistake  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Randolph,  the  head  of  the 
college,  left  his  election,  for  a  little  while,  in  some  danger.  He  had 
stated,  in  the  course  of  his  answers  to  the  usual  questions,  that  his 
father  was  a  fitter :  of  which  term  an  explanation  has  been  given  in 
the  first  chapter.  When  the  candidates  had  retired,  Dr.  Randolph 
delivered  his  opinion  to  this  effect:  "  I  think,  gentlemen,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  young  Scott  is  by  far  the  best  scholar  of  them  all ; 
but  he  has  told  us  that  his  father  is  a  fiddler,  and  I  do  not  quite  like 
to  take  the  son  of  a  fiddler  into  the  college."  The  word  fitter,  thus 
warped  into  fiddler,  was  one  which,  though  familiar  enough  in  the 
coal  districts  of  the  north,  had  no  currency  among  the  classic  groves 
of  Oxford  :  and  it  was  probably  rendered  still  more  unintelligible  by 
that  guttural  rumbling,  or  burr,  so  general  among  Northumbrians,  from 
which  William  Scott  was  by  no  means  exempt.  The  objection,  how- 
ever, (no  very  valid  one  even  had  it  been  applicable),  vanished  alto- 
gether upon  explanation;  and  the  deserving  candidate  was  elected  to 
the  scholarship  on  the  same  day.  On  the  26th  he  was  admitted  to 
it, — his  age,  as  the  college  books  record,  "  being  fifteen  years  on  or 
about  the  28th  day  of  October  last  past:" — and  on  the  3d  of  March 
he  was  matriculated  as  "  Gulielmus  Scott,  Gulielmi  de  Heworth  civit.* 
Dulmelm.  gen.  fil." 

The  extracts  which  follow,  from  three  letters  of  the  father,  about 
the  end  of  the  same  year,  illustrate  the  manners  of  the  time,  and  the 
character  of  the  man. 

Mr.  Scott  (Hoastman')  to  his  son  William. — (Extract.) 

"5  Dec.  1761. 
"Dear  Son, 
"Since  mine  of  the  17th  past,  I  received  yours  of  the  25th  ditto,  in  which  you  wrote 

*  Sic  in  orig.,  apparently  a  clerical  error  for  "  comit." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  33 

the  greater  part  of  the  small  sum  I  sent  you  had  been  employed  in  paying  some 
necessary  bills,  which  bills  you  said  you  would  send  me,  if  I  desired  to  see  them.  I 
have  great  confidence  in  your  economy,  yet  after  telling  you  I  had  a  desire  to  'see 
those  bills,  you'll  doubtless  send  them  by  your  next. 

"I  was  in  some  hurry  when  I  wrote  last  to  you,  that  I  omitted  telling  you  I  was 
pleased  with  what  you  said  relating  your  birth-day,  and  hope,  as  you  increase  in 
years,  you'll  also  increase  in  goodness,  and  in  all  things  that  may  recommend  you  to 
the  favour  of  all  good  men,  which  God  grant." 

**•*«*»» 

Mr.  Scott  (Hoastman)  to  his  son  William. — (Extract.) 

"  9  Jan.  1 762. 

»     #      » 

"My  asking  for  your  accounts  was  affectionately  meant:  and,  now  that  I  tell  you 
so,  you'll  doubtless  send,  and  it  would  be  a  satisfaction  to  me  to  receive  the  best 
accounts  you  can  send  me  of  the  bills  I  send  you  ;  and  give  me  always  ten  or  twelve 
days'  notice  of  want  of  money,  and  you'll  find  me  ready  enough  to  supply  you,  so  as 
you  live  comfortably." 

»*«•*#»* 

Mr.  Scott  (Hoastman)  to  his  son  William. — (Extract.) 

11  Newcastle,  2Cth  Feb.  17C2. 
*     *     » 

"Write  once  a  month;  remember  you  laughed  at  Capt.  Geo.  Bell's  letter  to  me, 
when  he  wrote  from  London  thus : — 

'Sir:  I  arrived  here  well: 

Your  humble  servant,  GEO.  BELT..' 

Give  us  a  letter  once  more;  if  you  have  nothing  else  to  say  from  Oxford,  say, 
'I  am  well,  question  not: 

Your  dutiful  son,  WM.  SCOTT.' 

If  I  did  not  think  you  were  well,  I  would  not  jest  in  this  manner." 

The  character  of  Mr.  Scott  the  elder  is  favourably  exhibited  in  the 
following  occurrence.  He  was  riding  along  a  lonely  part  of  the  road 
between  Newcastle  and  Shields,  when  a  man,  on  foot  and  in  disguise, 
stopped  his  horse,  and,  pointing  a  pistol/demanded  money.  Mr.  Scott 
recognized  him  to  be  the  son  of  a  gentleman  of  that  country:  and, 
shocked  by  the  discovery,  and  regardless  of  his  own  danger  in  avow- 
ing a  knowledge  of  the  robber's  person,  exclaimed  "  Good  God, 
young  man,  what  would  your  father  do  if  he  knew  what  you  are 
about!"  The  unexpected  appeal  was  successful.  It  went  to  the 
heart  of  the  offender,  who  threw  himself  down  before  Mr.  Scott,  and 
earnestly  entreated  him  to  pardon  and  keep  secret  what  had  passed. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  Mr.  Scott  complied  with  the  re- 
quest. "  When  my  father  told  me  this  incident,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to 
his  grandson,  "  he  added,  that,  at  the  time  of  his  telling  it,  the  person 
he  had  reclaimed  was  living  in  that  part  of  the  country,  in  a  highly 
respectable  station." 

The  Durham  scholarship  had  been  the  first  fruit  reaped  by  William 
Scott  from  his  mother's  temporary  retirement  out  of  Northumberland 
into  Durham.  The  same  circumstance  appears  to  have  aided  him  in 
obtaining,  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  a  University  College  fellowship, 
to  which  he  was  elected  14th  Dec.  1764,  on  the  vacancy  occasioned 
by  Mr.  Wetherell's  promotion  to  the  mastership  of  that  college. 
This  fellowship  was  on  the  foundation  of  William  of  Durham,  which 
VOL.  i. — 3 


34 


LIFE  OF  LORD 


is  open,  but  with  a  preference,  in  cases  of  equal  merit,  to  candidates 
born  in  the  parts  nearest  to  Durham.  Although  the  state  of  the  uni- 
versity, from  the  want  of  prizes  and  public  examinations  in  those  days, 
was  very  unfavourable  to  the  display  of  talent,  William  Scott  had 
acquired  so  high  a  reputation  that,  in  1765,  before  he  had  completed 
his  twentieth  year,  he  was  appointed  a  college  tutor:  and  that  office 
he  retained  until  the  end  of  1775.  He  took  the  degrees  of  B.  A.,  Nov. 
20,  1764;— M.  A.,  June  17,  1767  ;— D.  C.  L.,  June  23,  1779. 

The  successes  of  the  elder  brother  at  Oxford  laid  a  foundation  for 
the  fortunes  of  the  younger  also.  When  John  approached  the  com- 
pletion of  his  studies  at  the  High  School,  his  father,  who  had  formed 
a  design  of  qualifying  him  for  his  own  business  of  a  fitter,  was  making 
arrangements  to  that  effect,  with  which  he  acquainted  William,  then 
at  the  university.  In  answer  to  this  communication,  William  wrote 
to  his  father,  dissuading  him  from  his  design.  "  Send  Jack  up  to 
me,"  he  said  :  "  I  can  do  better  for  him  here."  He  was  sent  accord- 
ingly, and,  on  the  15th  of  May,  1766,  was  matriculated  as  a  member 
of  the  University  of  Oxford,  by  Dr.  Durell,  the  vice-chancellor,  hav- 
ing, on  the  same  day,  been  entered  as  a  commoner  of  University 
College.  "  I  was  entered,"  he  notes  in  his  Anecdote  Book,  "  under 
the  tuition  of  Sir  Robert  Chambers  and  my  brother  Lord  Stowell." 

In  strictness  of  speaking,  his  entry  was  under  his  brother  only,  as 
the  college  books  show:  "  1766,  Maii  15.  Ego,  Johannes  Scott, 
films  natu  minimus  Gulielmi  Scott  Generosi,  De  Novo  Castro  super 
Tinam  in  Com.  Northum.  lubens  subscribe,  sub  tutamine  Domini 
Scott,  annos  natus  circiter  quindecim."  He  then  lacked  several 
weeks  of  fifteen ;  and  his  brother  used  afterwards  to  say,  "  I  was  quite 
ashamed  of  his  appearance,  he  looked  such  a  mere  boy." 

"  I  have  seen  it  remarked,"  says  Lord  Eldon  in  his  Anecdote 
Book,  "  that  something  which  in  early  youth  captivates  attention, 
influences  future  life  in  all  stages.  When  I  left  school,  in  1766,  to  go 
to  Oxford,  I  came  up  from  Newcastle  to  London  in  a  coach  then 
denominated,  on  account  of  its  quick  travelling  as  travelling  was  then 
estimated,  a  fly ;  being,  as  well  as  I  remember,  nevertheless,  three  or 
four  days  and  nights  on  the  road  :  there  was  no  such  velocity  as  to 
endanger  overturning  or  other  mischief.  On  the  panels  of  the  car- 
riage were  painted  the  words  '  Sat  cito,  si  sat  bene :'  words  which 
made  a  most  lasting  impression  on  my  mind,  and  have  had  their 
influence  upon  my  conduct  in  all  subsequent  life.  Their  effect  was 
heightened  by  circumstances  during  and  immediately  after  the  journey. 
Upon  the  journey  a  Quaker,  who  was  a  fellow-traveller,  stopped  the 
coach  at  the  inn  at  Tuxford,  desired  the  chambermaid  to  come  to  the 
coach-door,  and  gave  her  a  sixpence,  telling  her  that  he  forgot  to 
give  it  her  when  he  slept  there  two  years  before.  I  was  a  very  saucy 
boy,  and  said  to  him,  '  Friend,  have  you  seen  the  motto  on  this 
coach  ?' — '  No.' — '  Then  look  at  it :  for  I  think  giving  her  only  six- 
pence now  is  neither  sat  cito  nor  sat  bene.'  After  I  got  to  town,  my 
brother,  now  Lord  Stowell,  met  me  at  the  White  Horse  in  Fetter 
Lane,  Holborn,  then  the  great  Oxford  house,  as  I  was  told.  He  took 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  35 

me  to  see  the  play  at  Drury  Lane.  Love  played  Jobson  in  the  farce, 
and  Miss  Pope  played  Nell.  When  we  came  out  of  the  house,  it 
rained  hard.  There  were  then  few  hackney-coaches,  and  we  got 
both  into  one  sedan-chair.  Turning  out  of  Fleet  Street  into  Fetter 
Lane,  there  was  a  sort  of  contest  between  our  chairman  and  some 
persons  who  were  coming  up  Fleet  Street,  whether  they  should  first 
pass  Fleet  Street,  or  we  in  our  chair  first  get  out  of  Fleet  Street  into 
Fetter  Lane.  In  the  struggle,  the  sedan-chair  was  overset  with  us  in  it. 
This,  thought  I,  is  more  than  sat  cito,  and  it  certainly  is  not  sat  bene. 
In  short,  in  all  that  I  have  had  to  do  in  future  life,  professional  and 
judicial,  I  have  always  felt  the  effect  of  this  early  admonition,  on  the 
panels  of  the  vehicle  which  conveyed  me  from  school,  '  Sat  «7o,  si 
sat  bene.1  It  was  the  impression  of  this  which  made  me  that  deliberat- 
ive judge — as  some  have  said,  too  deliberative  ; — and  reflection  upon 
all  that  is  past  will  not  authorize  me  to  deny  that,  whilst  I  have  been 
thinking  '  sat  cito,  si  sat  benej  I  may  not  have  sufficiently  recollected 
whether  'sat  bene,  si  sat  cito"*  has  had  its  due  influence." 
.  "  My  dignity,  after  I  first  went  to  Oxford,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs. 
Forster,  "received  a  sad  pull-down:  for,  in  the  long  vacation,  my 
father  sent  me  back  again  to  the  Newcastle  school. — Then,  to  make 
the  matter  worse,  Mr.  Moises  used  to  talk  as  if  the  having  been  a  few 
weeks  at  Oxford  was  to  do  wonders  for  my  learning :  so  when  the 
other  boys  had  answered  all  his  questions,  '  Now,'  he  used  to  say, '  let 
us  hear  what  the  Oxonian  will  tell  us:'  and,  when  I  had  answered, 
he  would  add,  '  That  is  what  the  Oxonian  has  to  say,  is  it?'  till  I 
got  quite  the  name  of  the  Oxonian." — He  was  then  but  just  fifteen 
years  of  age. 

There  is  no  truth  in  the  story  that  Mr.  Moises  paid,  or  contributed 
to  pay,  his  college  expenses.  His  education  was  wholly  at  his 
father's  cost,  except  as  he  himself  assisted  to  defray  it  by  the  fellow- 
ship at  University  College,  to  which  he  was  elected  on  the  llth  of 
July,  1767,  on  a  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  the  Rev. 
John  Rotheram,  A.  M. — This  fellowship,  which  John  Scott  achieved 
when  he  had  just  completed  his  sixteenth  year,  was  on  the  founda- 
tion of  Henry  Percy,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  for  persons  born  in 
the  dioceses  of  Durham,  Carlisle  or  York,  with  a  preference  in  cases 
of  equal  merit,  to  natives  of  the  county  of  Northumberland. 

In  the  Anecdote  Book,  Lord  Eldoh,  after  adverting  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  rebellion  which  occasioned  Mrs.  Scott  to  leave  New- 
castle for  the  adjoining  county  when  about  to  give  birth  to  William, 
says,  "  His  birth  in  the  county  of  Durham  qualified  him  to  be  a 
candidate  for  the  fellowship  in  Oxford,  which  he  afterwards  obtained. 
His  influence  in  that  station  procured  for  me  the  fellowship  in 
Oxford  which  I  afterwards  obtained.  To  both  these  fellowships 
were  of  great  use  in  life,  and  in  our  future  success  in  it.  We  owe 
much,  therefore,  to  what  it  is  to  be  wished  nobody  should  profit  by, 
viz.,  rebellion." 

It  appears  that,  from  his  very  boyhood,  the  favourite  plaything  of 
John  Scott  was  a  gun.  In  the  Oxford  vacations  he  was  frequently  at 


dO  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Blagdon,  the  seat  of  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  whose  brothers, 
Nicholas  and  Henry,  were  among  his  college  friends:  and  then  the 
partridges  found  little  respite.  He  was  not  fond  of  taking  the  field 
with  a  party,  but  would  follow  the  sport  alone,  starting  early  and 
returning  late. 

In  after-life,  his  connection  with  the  Ridleys  became  still  closer. 
When  chancellor,  he  had  the  gratification  of  appointing  Nicholas  a 
master  in  chancery,  and  of  obtaining  for  Henry  (who  had  married 
Miss  Frances  Surtees,  Lady  Eldon's  sister,  and  taken  the  degree  of 
doctor  of  divinity)  a  prebendal  stall  in  the  cathedral  of  Gloucester. 
The  daughter  of  Sir  Matthew  became  the  wife  of  the  chancellor's 
eldest  son,  and  the  mother  of  the  present  earl. 

The  first  matter  of  law  ever  learned  by  the  future  chancellor  of 
England  appears  to  have  been  the  rule  laid  down  by  the  legislature 
in  the  Statute  of  Frauds  (29  Charles  II.  chap.  3.  s.  4.),  that  no 
agreement  is  enforceable  upon  any  contract  or  sale  of  lands,  unless 
such  agreement,  or  some  memorandum  or  note  thereof  be  in  writing, 
and  signed  by  the  party  to  be  charged  therewith  or  his  authorized 
agent.  Of  this  enactment  the  following  story,  told  by  Lord  Eldon 
in  his  Anecdote  Book,  is  a  pleasant  exemplification :  — 

"  There  was  an  attorney  at  Newcastle,  when  I  was  a  boy  at  school, 
not  of  a  very  popular  character  for  integrity.  The  leading  and 
eminent  physician  of  that  day  there  was  Dr.  Askew.  A  gentleman 
in  extreme  bad  health  came  into  that  country  to  sell  an  estate  before 
he  died.  He  sent  for  the  attorney  upon  the  business  of  selling  the 
estate,  —  first  about  advertising  it  for  sale  and  adopting  all  other 
proper  means  for  obtaining  a  reasonable  price.  The  attorney,  who, 
it  was  said,  well  knew  the  estate  and  its  value,  told  the  gentleman 
that  he  was  willing  to  give  him  a  sum  he  named,  which  he  assured 
him  was  its  full  worth,  and  if  he  would  take  that  sum  he  would  give 
it  him,  and  all  further  trouble  might  be  saved.  This  was  agreed  to, 
and  the  attorney  went  to  his  office  to  prepare  articles  to  be  signed 
and  sealed.  The  gentleman  having  thus  taken  care  of  his  estate, 
turned  his  attention  immediately  to  the  care  of  his  diseased  body,  by 
sending  for  Dr.  Askew  and  desiring  his  immediate  attendance.  The 
doctor  came  quickly,  and  after  asking  a  few  questions  as  to  the 
state  of  the  gentleman's  health,  inquired  what  had  brought  him  in 
such  a  state  into  that  country.  This  led  to  the  doctor's  learning 
that  he  had  come  there  to  dispose  of  the  estate,  which  was  in 
Northumberland.  The  doctor  said  he  should  be  very  glad  to  buy 
the  estate; — but  he  was  informed  by  the  patient  that  it  was  sold  to 
the  attorney.  Then  said  the  doctor,  '  Thou  art  probably  cheated  : 
I'll  give  without  a  word  more,  two  thousand  pounds  beyond  what 
the  attorney  has  offered.'  The  gentleman  was  scrupulous  about 
accepting  the  second  offer,  but  he  overcame  his  scruples.  The 
doctor  then  took  pen,  ink  and  paper,  and  wrote  himself  a  short  but 
sufficient  article  of  sale  and  purchase,  and  both  signed  it.  Soon 
after  the  attorney  entered  the  room  with  his  intended  written  contract ; 
but  finding  himself  too  late,  he  began  to  abuse  the  doctor  most  un- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  37 

mercifully  for  cheating  him  out  of  the  benefit  of  his  bargain.  *  Scold 
on,'  says  the  doctor.  '  Do  you  imagine  that  any  body  will  think  that 
I  have  done  wrong,  if  I  have  cheated  thee,  a  lawyer,  who  has  cheated 
all  the  rest  of  mankind  ?' ' 

In  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  Oxford  saw  at  least  as  much  of 
hard  drinking  as  of  hard  study.  The  Anecdote  Book  tells  a  story  of 
a  doctor  of  divinity,  whom  Mr.  John  Scott  saw  trying,  under  the 
influence  of  some  inspiration  much  stronger  than  that  of  the  Pierian 
stream,  to  make  his  way  to  Brazennose  College  through  Radcliffe 
Square.  He  had  reached  the  library,  a  rotunda  then  without  rail- 
ings; and,  unable  to  support  himself  except  by  keeping  one  hand 
upon  the  building,  he  continued  walking  round  and  round,  until  a 
friend,  coming  out  of  the  college,  espied  the  distress  of  the  case, 
and  rescued  him  from  the  orbit  in  which  he  had  been  so  unsteadily 
revolving. 

In  days  when  doctors  of  divinity  were  thus  unguarded  in  their 
conviviality,  under-graduates  could  hardly  be  expected  to  preserve  a 
very  strict  temperance.  Among  the  waggeries  of  the  wine  parties, 
Lord  Eldon's  Anecdote  Book  has  preserved  one  which  will  put  the 
reader  in  mind  of  Swift's  English  derivations  for  classical  names. 
At  Corpus  Christi  College  there  were  drinking-cups,  or  glasses, 
which,  from  their  shape,  were  called  ox-eyes.  Some  friends  of  a 
young  student,  after  seducing  him  to  fill  his  ox-eye  much  fuller  and 
oftener  than  consisted  with  his  equilibrium,  took  pity  at  last  on  his 
helpless  condition,  and  led  or  carried  him  to  his  rooms.  He  had 
just  Latin  enough  left  at  command  to  thank  them  at  the  stair-head 
with,  "  Pol,  me  ox-eye-distis,  amici."* 

When  Christ  Church  meadow  was  overflowed  and  sufficiently 
frozen  for  skaiting,  people  used  to  ply  on  the  ice  with  kegs  of  brandy 
and  other  cordials  for  the  skaiters.  John  Scott,  then  an  under- 
graduate, was  skaiting  over  a  part  of  the  meadow  where  the  ice, 
being  infirm,  broke  in,  and  let  him  into  a  ditch,  up  to  his  neck  in 
water.  When  he  had  scrambled  out,  and  was  dripping  from  the 
collar  and  oozing  from  the  stockings,  a  brandy-vender  shuffled  to- 
wards him  and  recommended  a  glass  of  something  warm:  upon 
which  Edward  Norton,  of  University  College,  a  son  of  Lord  Grant- 
ley,  sweeping  past,  cried  out  to  the  retailer :  "  None  of  your  brandy 
for  that  wet  young  man  :  —  he  never  drinks  but  when  he  is  dry." 

Lord  Eldon  used  to  relate  of  Mr.  Windham,  who  was  his  fellow- 
student  at  University  College,  that  he  was  observed  by  the  master 
(Dr.  Wetherell,  the  father  of  Sir  Charles)  to  be  making  free  use  of 
pencil  and  paper,  during  one  of  the  master's  college  lectures. 
"  Sir,"  said  the  doctor,  "  it  always  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure 
to  perceive  young  men  paying  so  much  attention  lo  what  is  taught 
them,  and  taking  notes  with  such  care:  pray  hand  me  up  you^ 
paper."  Mr.  Windham  had  some  difficulty  in  excusing  himself: 

»  Horat.  Epist.  lib.  ii.  Ep.  2.  line  138. 


38 


LIFE  OF  LORD 


the  truth  being  that  the  production  of  his  pencil  was  not  a  sketch  of 
the  lecture,  but  of  the  doctor. 

The  Anecdote  Book  says,  "Mr.  Windham,  who  was  a  great 
classical  scholar,  and  hated  a  pun,  good  or  bad,  reading  Demosthe- 
nes with  great  admiration, — TtOryxs  <&atrtrto$;  (Is  Philip  dead?)  'Ov, 
/*a  At"  (No,  by  Jupiter),* — was  put  into  a  great  passion  by  a  fellow- 
jstudent  (apparently  John  Scott  himself)  saying,  '  No,  Windham,  you 
see  he  is  not  dead ;  the  Greek  words  only  say  he  '  may  die.'' ' 

The  Anecdote  Book  gives  the  origin  of  another  pun,  now  very 
familiar  to  young  students : 

"  Old  Dr.  Leigh,  of  Baliol  College,  a  great  punster,  when  he  was 
Vice-Chancellor  of  Oxford,  going  out  of  the  theatre,  and  being 
unpopular  among  the  young  men  for  some  due  and  proper  acts  of 
discipline,  was  saluted  with  much  sibilation.  He  turned  round  and 
said, 'Academici,  laudamur  ab  Aw.'  This  pun  produced  an  entire 
change,  and  the  young  men  applauded  him." 

The  next  is  a  better  jest,  which  Lord  Eldon,  though  he  has 
omitted  it  in  the  Anecdote  Book,  was  fond  of  telling  among  his 
Oxford  stories.  A  clergyman  had  two  churches,  Newbury  and 
Bibury ;  and,  instead  of  dividing  the  duties  equally  between  them, 
chose  always  to  perform  the  morning  service  at  the  former,  and  the 
evening  service  at  the  latter.  Being  asked  his  reason,  he  made 
answer:  "I  go  to  nubere  in  the  morning,  because  that  is  the  time  to 
marry ;  and  I  go  to  bibere  in  the  evening,  because  that  is  the  time 
to  drink." 

"  There  was  once,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "  a  gentle- 
man who  had  been  one  of  the  professors,  and  who  came  from  York- 
shire to  Oxford  to  consult  Mr.  Nurse,  a  surgeon  of  some  celebrity, 
about  a  severe  complaint  under  which  he  laboured.  The  case  proved 
one  which  could  not  be  cured,  but  might  be  mitigated,  and  Nurse 
was  very  anxious  that  he  should  be  kept  amused :  so  he  insisted 
upon  his  changing  his  lodgings  to  a  better  situation,  and  he  took  for 
him  a  room  commanding  a  view  down  High  Street.  When,  how- 
ever, he  was  seated  at  the  window,  it  was  found  that  a  tree,  growing 
in  All  Saints'  churchyard,  stood  in  the  way  and  intercepted  the  full 
view  of  that  street.  So  Nurse  kept  mumble,  mumbling  to  me  and 
a  few  others,  that  it  was  a  great  pity  that  tree  should  be  allowed  to 
remain  standing,  till  he  inspired  us  with  a  wish  to  get  rid  of  it ;  for 
we  were  all  much  attached  to  the  professor.  So,  one  night,  when 
the  moon  was  under  a  cloud,  we  set  the  gentleman's  servant  to  cut 
down  this  tree,  whilst  we  stationed  ourselves  at  different  parts  to 
watch.  Well,  he  was  very  long  about  it,  and  the  moon  began  to 
appear,  and  we  were  in  a  great  fright,  so  got  over  the  wall  to  see 
what  he  was  about.  He  was  a  Yorkshire  man,  and  he  told  us,  '  the 
$eg  winna  wag;'  and  that,  which  meant,  'the  saw  will  not  move,' 
was  all  we  could  get  from  him.  So  we  had  to  help  him: — down 
came  the  tree,  and  away  we  all  scampered. »  The  next  day  there 

*  First  Philippic,  ch.  v. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  39 

were  handbills  and  proclamations  from  the  mayor  and  magistrates, 
offering  a  reward  for  the  conviction  of  any  of  the  offenders,  who  had 
the  night  before  committed  a  dreadful  crime  in  All  Saints'  church- 
yard. None  of  us  peached,  so  we  all  escaped ;  and  Nurse  said  it 
was  the  most  glorious  crime  that  ever  had  been  perpetrated  in  favour 
of  a  patient." 

Mr.  John  Scott  took  his  Bachelor's  degree,  in  Hilary  term,  on  the 
20th  of  February,  1770. — "  An  examination  for  a  degree  at  Oxford," 
he  used  to  say,  "  was  a  farce  in  my  time.  I  was  examined  in  He- 
brew and  in  history.  *  What  is  the  Hebrew  for  the  place  of  a  skull  ?' 
— I  replied,  'Golgotha.' — 'Who  founded  University  College?' — I 
stated  (though,  by  the  way,  the  point  is  sometimes  doubted),  '  that 
King  Alfred  founded  it.' — '  Very  well,  sir,'  said  the  examiner,  'you 
are  competent  for  your  degree.'  " 

In  the  year  1768,  the  Earl  of  Lichfield,  Chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  had  instituted  two  annual  prizes  there,  for  the  best 
compositions  in  English  prose  and  Latin  verse  respectively :  the  prize 
for  Latin  verse  being  limited  to  members  who  had  not  exceeded  four 
years  from  their  matriculation :  and  that  for  English  prose  to  members 
who  had  exceeded  four  years  but  not  completed  seven,  and  who  had 
not  taken  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  or  of  Bachelor  of  Civil  Law. 
The  subject,  in  1771,  was  "  The  Advantages  and  Disadvantages  of 
Foreign  Travel ;"  and,  in  the  Trinity  term  of  that  year,  the  price,  of 
the  value  of  20/.,  was  adjudged  to  the  essay  bearing  the  motto  of 
"  Non  alibi  sis,  sed  alius."  This  essay  was  written  by  John  Scott 
while  yet  under  the  age  of  20  years.  It  has  been  published  in  Tal- 
boys's  Collection  of  the.  Oxford  English  Prize  Essays,  1830.  His 
brother  William,  who,  as  these  prizes  were  not  founded  till  after  he 
took  his  degree  of  M.  A.,  had  had  no  opportunity  to  earn  distinctions 
of  this  kind  in  his  own  person,  was  delighted  at  the  attainment  of  them 
by  his  dear  relative  and  pupil.* 

But  no  member  of  the  young  essayist's  own  family  could  be  more 
gratified  by  his  success  than  the  master  of  the  Head  School  at  New- 
castle. Mr.  Brewster,  in  his  Memoirs  of  that  worthy  man,  tells  us  he 
remembers  Mr.  Moises  entering  the  school,  with  delight  in  his  coun- 
tenance, and  the  prize  essay  in  his  hand,  and  saying  to  the  senior 
lads,  "  See  what  John  Scott  has  done !  "  And  for  many  a  year  after- 
wards, as  another  of  the  old  man's  scholars  used  to  relate,  Mr.  Moises, 
when  any  of  his  boys  did  well,  would  give  them  this  qualified  praise, 

*  NOTE  BY  THE  PRESKNT  EARL. — " The  excellence  of  the  education  at  University 
College  during  the  tutorship  of  Lord  Stowell,  which  ranges  from  1765  to  1775,  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  out  of  the  five  first  prizes  adjudged  for  English  prose, 
four  were  gained  by  members  of  University  College,  namely,  in  1768  by  G.  Croft,  in 
1709  by  George  Strahan,  in  1771  by  John  Scott,  and  in  1772  by  his  friend  Philip 
Fisher. 

"Strahan  and  Fisher  were  intimate  friends  of  John  Scott,  who,  when  lord  c 
cellor,  appointed  Strahan  to  a  prebendal  stall  at  Rochester,  and  Fisher  to  one  at  Nor 
wich.    The  chancellor  was  mainly  instrumental,  too,  in  procuring  the  electic 
latter  to  the  mastership  of '.he  Charter-House,  which  he  held  until  his  death,  January 
19th,  1842,  in  the  ninety-second  year  of  his  age." 


40  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"  Well  done,  very  well  done ;  but  I  have  had  lads  that  would  have 
done  better: — the  Scotts  would  have  done  better  than  that." 

A  jocular  epistle,  addressed  to  his  cousin,  college-friend  and  fellow- 
townsman,  Mr.  Henry  Utrick  Reay,  (who  seems  to  have  borne  the 
name  of  Peters  among  his  familiars),  is  believed  by  Lord  Eldon's 
family  to  be  the  earliest  piece  of  his  correspondence  now  extant. 
Like  too  many  of  his  letters,  it  is  without  date.  It  was  apparently 
written  in  1771,  during  the  interval,  between  the  Trinity  term  when 
Mr.  John  Scott  received  his  prize  for  the  essay,  and  the  following 
November  when  the  bridge  at  Newcastle,  mentioned  in  the  letter, 
was  destroyed.  It  is  a  sort  of  grave  jest,  and  seems  to  have  been 
composed  with  a  view  to  punish  Reay,  by  way  of  bore,  for  some 
waggish  description  of  "  the  distant  region  of  Chester,"  which  Reay 
himself  had  been  perpetrating,  probably  in  reference  to  Scott's  lucu- 
brations upon  travel: — 

"My  dear  Peters, 

"  I  received  your  friendly  epistle,  the  pleasure  of  perusing  which  I  had  almost  been 
deprived  of,  by  the  friction  it  had  suffered  in  so  Ions;  a  conveyance.  There  is  nothing, 
says  an  ancient  sage,  which  conveys  a  more  pleasing  satisfaction  to  the  mind  of  man 
than  a  new  discovery;  and  it  was  upon  this  principle  that  we  have  the  'iv?r>xa.  of  a 
quondam  philosopher  handed  down  to  us  his  posterity,  in  such  ecstatic  expression. 
Near  akin  to  this  sensation  is  that  pleasing  pain  we  feel  in  poring  over  descriptions 
of  foreign  climes:  and  the  mind  exults  if  it  finds  the  accounts  clothed  in  that  richness 
.of  language  and  elegance  of  diction  which  so  conspicuously  beautify  and  adorn  your 
picture  of  the  distant  region  of  Chester.  Like  Mr.  Moises'  Nanny,  you  deal  so  well 
in  the  descriptive,  that  you  point  out  the  minutest  circumstances  with  a  propriety 
that  makes  trifles  interesting;  and  hold  forth  to  our  view  objects  more  difficult  to 
paint,  in  that  simplicity  of  speech,  which  proves  to  us,  that,  like  other  great  men,  you 
look  upon  perspicuity  as  the  first  beauty  of  composition.  You  have,  indeed,  attained 
such  excellence  in  the  art  of  describing  places  before  you  come  to  them,  that,  in  this 
our  day,  Addison  might  blush  to  read  his  travels  (so  much  are  yours  superior  to  them), 
and  Maundrell  wish  to  wrap  up  his  Jerusalem  artichokes  in  Lethcean  oblivion. 

"  With  what  modest  diffidence  then  shall  I  enter  upon  the  laborious  task  of  describ- 
ing this  place  of  my  residence?  a  task  which  I  should  not  undertake  (so  unequal  are 
my  shoulders  to  the  weight)  unless  to  oblige  you,  my  friend,  by  giving  you  such  a 
description  of  Newcastle,  as  may  enable  you  to  form  a  clear  and  distinct  idea  of  this 
town,  though  you  never  saw  it. 

"Say,  Muse,  where  shall  I  begin?  At  the  Bridge.  This  is  an  elegant  structure,  of 
thirteen  arches.  The  battlements  are  beautified,  with  towers,  houses  &c.,  and  what 
is  a  very  extraordinary  circumstance,  it  is  built  over  a  river.  From  hence  you  pro- 
ceed to  the  Sand-hill.  Here  you  have  presented  to  your  view  the  Exchange,  and 
Nelly's,  Katy's,  and  Harrison's  Coffee-Houses:  from  the  windows  of  which  you  may 
view  the  operations  of  shaving,  turnip  and  carrot  selling,  and  the  fishmarket — if  you 
turn  your  eyes  that  way.  The  quay  is  reckoned  one  of  the  best  in  England.  The 
water  makes  the  prospect  very  agreeable ;  and  there  is  no  deficiency  of  wood,  in  the 
shape  of  planks,  tar-barrels,  and  trees  of  that  kind.  At  the  east  end  of  this,  passing 
through  a  magnificent  arch, you  come  to  a  street  called  Sandgate,  which,  whether  you 
consider  the  elegance  of  the  buildings,  or  the  number  of  the  inhabitants,  or  that  strict 
regard  they  pay  to  decency,  is  equaled  by  none  in  the  kingdom.  From  the  before- 
mentioned  quay  are  many  lanes,  most  of  which  terminate  in  the  butcher-bank,  so 
called  because  it  is  a  kind  of  hill,  where  are  sold,  daily,  beef,  mutton  and  veal." — 
After  a  description,  in  the  same  vein,  of  Pilgrim  Street,  of  Westgate,  and  of  several 
churches,  he  brings  the  remaining  localities  into  this  sweeping  conclusion: — "  Now 
as  to  the  Groat-market,  the  Big-market,  the  Meal-market,  the  Jail,  Gallowgate,  the 
Leases,  Northumberland  Street,  High  and  Low  Friar  Chare,  Sir  Walter's,  the  Croft, 
the  Dog  Bank,  Pandon,  the  Close,  the  Castlegarth,  Hanover  Square,  Bailey  Gate,  Pol- 
stern,  Denton  and  Pudding  Chares,  the  Manor  Chare,  the  Spital,  High  and  Low 
Bridge,  Painter  Heugh,  the  Burnt  House  Entry,  Walk  Knolls,  Sally-Port-Gate,  Pan- 
don Bank,  Sil  ver  Street,  Els  wick  Fields,  Shieldfield,  Infirmary,  Hospitals,  Almshouses, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  41 

Rosemary  Lane,  Breakneck  Sfairs,  Turtle  Stairs,  and  all  other  places  which  would 
make  .you  stare,  are  they  not  written  in  Bourne's  Account  of  Newcastle? 
"  Methinks  I  have  now  got  sufficient  revenge;  and  it  is  time  to  conclude  myself, 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

«  J.  S." 

Another  letter  to  Mr.  Reay,  which  appears  from  internal  evidence 
to  have  been  written  2d  September,  1771,  may  be  noticed  here,  as 
containing  the  earliest  mention  of  Miss  Elizabeth  Surtees,  afterwards 
his  wife.  He  is  speaking  of  the  visit  paid  to  Newcastle  by  Henry, 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  brother  of  George  the  Third ;  and  he  says  to 
his  friend, — 

"The  ladies  are,  as  we  supposed,  half  mad  about  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  Miss 
Surtees  and  my  dear  Bell,  it  seems,  were  frightened  out  of  their  wits  when  he  danced 
with  them." 

The  lady  whom  he  calls  his  dear  Bell  was  Miss  Allgood,  afterwards 
Mrs.  Lambton  Loraine. 

"At  the  assembly  rooms  at  Newcastle,"  said  he  to  Mrs.  Forster, 
"  there  were  two  rooms,  and  a  stair-head  between  them ;  so  we 
always  danced  down  the  large  room  across  the  stair-head,  and  into  the 
other  room.  Then  you  know,  Ellen,  that  was  very  convenient;  for 
the  small  room  was  a  snug  one  to  flirt  in.  We  always  engaged  our 
partners  for  the  next  ball,  and  from  year  to  year.  We  were  very 
constant." 

The  Anecdote  Book  has  the  following  story,  of  which  Mr.  Reay  is 
the  hero  : — 

"  Reay,  who  was  always  in  high  spirits,  dined  with  me  at  Mr. 
Smith's  in  Leeds,  the  father  of  Mr.  Smith  afterwards  accountant-gene- 
ral of  the  Court  of  Chancery.  Reay  and  I  set  out,  after  dinner,  to  go 
towards  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  At  that  time  Mr.  Lascelles  had  about 
finished  his  house  at  Harewood ;  but,  as  we  were  told,  was  very  un- 
willing to  show  it,  or  have  it  seen  by  almost  any  body.  We  stopped 
at  the  village  of  Harewood  to  have  some  tea.  Reay  asked  the  land- 
lady whether  we  could  be  permitted  to  see  the  house.  She  said, 
perhaps  we  might  if  we  were  persons  of  quality.  Reay  then  said,  *  If 
that's  so,  there  is  no  obstacle  to  our  seeing  it,'  and  said  he  was  Lord 
Folkestone,  and  I  was  the  Hon.  Mr.  Fortescue.  She  then  told  him 
that  he  must  send  a  note,  stating  who  we  were,  to  a  Mr.  Poppleton  or 
Popplewich,  a  steward  of  Mr.  Lascelles's  expressing  our  wish  to  see 
the  house.  Th,at  gentleman  sent  a  very  civil  answer,  allowing  us  to 
see  the  house,  regretting  that  he  could  not  immediately  wait  upon  us, 
especially  as  he  had  the  honour  of  the  acquaintance  and  the  highest 
regard  for  the  Earl  of  Radnor,  Lord  Folkestone's  father.  We  went  to 
the  house,  and,  after  seeing  a  part  of  it,  the  woman  who  was  going 
through  the  house  with  us  (an  old  lady  in  full  dress),  said  that  she  had 
also  a  note  from  Mr.  Poppleton  or  Popplewich,  stating  his  anxiety  to 
see  Lord  Folkestone,  the  son  of  his  friend  the  Earl  Radnor.  Soon 
afterwards  she  looked  out  from  the  window,  and  said  to  Reay,  '  Oh 
sir !  here  is  Mr.  Poppleton  or  Popplewich  coming  to  see  your  lord- 
ship.' '  Coming  to  see  me?'  said  Reay;  *  then  here  am  I  going,  that 
I  may  not  see  him.'  We  immediately  went  down  stairs,  got  into  our 


42  LIFE  OF  LORD 

hackney  chaise,  and  drove  away,  passing  and  taking  our  hats  off  to 
that  gentleman,  who  had  no  suspicion  that  Lord  Folkestone  and  the 
Hon.  Mr.  Fortescue  were  in  a  dirty  Leeds  hackney  chaise.  I  think 
it  was  Sir  Robert  Chambers  who  told  me  that  Mr.  Lascelles  had  after- 
wards heard  of  this,  and  said  that  as  such  pranks  could  be  played,  it 
was  as  well  that  he  should  let  his  house  be  seen  by  every  body ;  and 
accordingly,  it  was  opened  once  a  week  for  the  inspection  of  the 
curious  at  Harrowgate,  and  all  others  who  wished  to  see  it." 

The  Anecdote  Book  gives  the  following  account  of  a  piece  of  boyish 
drollery  practised  by  Reay,  upon  one  of  those  aspirants  who  court 
immortality  by  writing  their  names  and  their  nonsense  upon  the  glass 
of  inn  windows : — 

"  Reay  and  I  went  up  from  Oxford  to  London  together.  We  dined 
at  March's,  Maidenhead  Bridge,  and  upon  the  window  Reay  observed 
that  a  person  of  Chipping  Norton,  whose  name  I  now  forget,  had 
written  that  he  dined  there  on  a  leg  of  mutton,  upon  a  day  arid  year 
mentioned  in  what  was  written.  When  we  got  to  the  Somerset  Coffee 
House,  Reay  sent  him  a  letter,  stating  that  as  he  had  thought  it  im- 
portant to  inform  the  public  that  he  had  dined  at  Maidenhead  Bridge, 
and  upon  a  leg  of  mutton,  he  must  have  expected  that  some  of  the 
public  would  inquire  how  the  mutton  had  agreed  with  him ;  and  he 
therefore  took  the  liberty  of  sending  such  an  inquiry,  from  his  friend 
Tom  Comical.  Next  day  he  sent  him  a  double  letter,  hoping  that, 
as  probably  he  had  potatoes  with  his  mutton,  they  had  not  disagreed 
with  him.  Two  days  afterwards  he  sent  a  treble  letter,  representing 
that  as  his  friend  Tom  Comical  had  received  no  answer  to  his  inquiry 
how  the  mutton  and  potatoes  had  agreed  with  him,  he  had  probably 
made  a  mistake,  and  should  have  inquired  how  the  mutton  and  French 
beans  or  some  other  vegetables  had  agreed  with  him,  and  assured  him 
that  he  should  repeat  his  kind  and  anxious  inquiries  every  day  till  his 
answer  came.  We  were  soon  afterwards  obliged  to  return  to  college, 
and,  stopping  at  March's,  we  found  that  the  pane  had  been  taken  out 
of  the  window  and  a  new  one  put  in  its  place.  Whilst  we  were 
looking  at  the  window,  old  March  came  in,  and,  observing  us,  he  said, 
'Ay,  ay,  one  of  you  must  be  the  gentleman  that  sent  the  person  who 
has  been  here  from  Chipping  Norton  so  many  letters.  Poor  man !  he* 
came  all  the  way  from  Chipping  Norton,  twenty  miles  on  the  other 
side  of  Oxford,  and  insisted  upon  seeing  the  pane  of  glass,  the  leg  of 
mutton  and  all  the  rest  taken  out  of  the  window  and  a  new  pane 
put  in  before  he  would  eat  a  morsel.'  " 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  43 


CHAPTER  III. 
1772,  1773. 

Name  and  family  of  Surtees. — Miss  Elizabeth  Surtees,  afterwards  Lady  Eldon.— 

Letter  from  John  Scott  in  love. — His  college  companions Anecdotes. — Music, 

dancing,  the  opera. — Lovers  of  Miss  Surtees. — Letter  from  (Sir)  William  Scott.— 
Elopement. — Reception  of  the  news  in  Love  Lane.  —Marriage  in  Scotland.— Sojourn 
at  Morpeth. — Communications  to  and  from  Newcastle. — Letter  from  John  Scott 
explaining  the  reason  of  the  elopement. — Forgiveness,  remarriage  and  settlements. 
Circumstances  and  prospects  of  the  young  couple. 

THE  year  1772,  the  year  of  Mr.  John  Scott's  majority,  may  be 
considered  the  most  important  of  his  life,  as  having  been  that  of  the 
marriage  which  gave  the  colour  to  all  his  after  days. 

The  lady  of  his  choice,  Miss  Elizabeth  Surtees,  of  whom  the 
reader  has  had  a  glimpse  at  the  Newcastle  ball,  as  one  of  the  partners 
of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  was  the  daughter  of  Aubone  Surtees,  Esq., 
a  banker  of  that  city.  "  The  name  of  Surtees,"  says  the  present  Lord 
Eldon,  "is  derived  from  the  river  Tees.  Dugdale  observes,  '  rivers 
have  imposed  names  to  some  men,  as  they  have  to  towns  situated  on 
them,  as  the  old  Baron  Sur  Teys,  that  is  on  the  liver  Teys.'  The 
Surteeses  of  Newcastle  are  descended  from  Edward  Suerties,  of  Broad 
Oak,  Gent.,  who  married  Margaret  Coulson,  niece  and  heiress  of 
Robert  Suerties,  in  1599  alderman  of  Durham.  They  are  considered 
to  be  a  younger  branch  of  the  family  of  Surtees  of  Dinsdale,  in  Dur- 
ham, on  the  banks  of  the  Tees,  who  held  the  barony  of  Gosforth  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  until,  in  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century,  the 
heirs  male  of  the  whole  blood  became  in  the  elder  branch  extinct, 
and  Gosforth  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Brandlings,  by  marriage 
with  an  heiress  of  the  Surtees  family." 

Mr.  John  Surtees,  Lady  Eldon's  brother,  says,  in  a  letter  to  a  rela- 
tion, that,  "  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Third,  the  family  of  Surtees 
represented  the  county  of  Northumberland,  were  sheriffs  afterwards 
for  Northumberland,  and  members  for  Newcastle."  He  adds,  "  My 
father's  elder  brother,  my  father,  and  my  brother  William,  were  all,  in 
succession,  receivers-general  for  Northumberland  and  Durham.  Of 
my  father's  personal  character,  I  cannot  say  too  much  good.  Sir 
Walter  Blackett  and  he  were  the  two  most  beloved  men  I  ever  knew 
in  Newcastle.  Both  died  fathers  of  the  corporation.  Many  years 
before  his  death  my  father  was  dangerously  ill,  and  a  clergyman  then 
on  a  visit  at  Newcastle,  told  me,  some  years  afterwards,  that  he  had 
never  seen  any  man  receive  such  {okens  of  affection  and  respect  as 
he  did  on  that  occasion,  for. that  the  whole  town  appeared  to  have 
only  one  topic  of  conversation,  one  object  of  interest,  his  health." 


44  LIFE  OF  LORD 

According  to  Lord  Eldon's  own  account,  it  was  at  the  church  of 
Sedgcfield,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  that  he  first  saw  Miss  Surtees. 
In  or  near  that  town,  her  father's  sister,  Miss  Frances  Surtees,  was 
living,  and  the  young  lady  may  probably  have  been  on  a  visit  to  this 
relative ;  but  what  accident  brought  Lord  Eldon,  then  Mr.  John 
Scott,  to  Sedgefield,  or  how  it  happened  that  the  young  people,  both 
natives  of  Newcastle,  had  never  met  in  their  own  neighbourhood,  is 
not  now  known. 

A  considerable  part  of  the  year  1772  was  passed  by  Miss  Surtees 
with  her  uncle  Mr.  Stephenson,  whose  town  residence  was  in  Park 
Lane,  and  who  rented,  in  the  country,  the  rectory  house  of  Taplow, 
near  Maidenhead.  During  her  visit  in  Park  Lane,  she  was  much  no- 
ticed by  the  then  Duchess  of  Northumberland,  who  would  sometimes 
take  her  by  the  arm  at  Northumberland  House,  and  present  her  to  the 
guests  as  "  my  Newcastle  beauty."  Her  naturally  retired  habits  made 
her  shrink  a  little  from  the  observation  thus  brought  upon  her ;  but 
she  continued  gratefully  sensible,  throughout  her  life,  of  the  unvary- 
ing kindness  evinced  by  the  Northumberland  family  to  herself  and  to 
Mr.  Scott  in  every  stage  of  their  career.  A  letter  of  his  from  Oxford, 
undated,  but  apparently  written  20th  May,  1772,  to  Mr.  Reay,  then 
in  London,  indicates  that  Miss  Surtees  was  now  occupying  a  con- 
ftderable  space  in  his  thoughts.  It  is  a  characteristic  specimen  of 
his  turn  of  mind  in  those  early  days. 

"Mon  cher  Ami, 

"After  having  suffered  in  a  very  high  degree  what  the  Latins  call  desiderium,  and 
which,  from  the  similarity  of  the  feeling,  though  excited  hy  different  causes,  I  presume 
to  translate  Gateshead-Fellianism, — after  being  almost  choked  with  dust,  and  suffering 
other  inconveniences  too  numerous  to  be  related,  we  at  length  arrived  once  more 
upon  this  classic  ground.  Sad  exchange  of  Ranelagh  for  the  High  Street,  of  dominos 
for  gowns  and  caps,  of  a  stroll  in  Hyde  Park,  comitante  Surtesiu,  for  a  trot  up  the  hill 
with  the  bussar.'  For  your  satisfaction,  however,  give  me  leave  to  inform  you,  that 
we  both  enjoy  health  of  body,  though  strangers  to  peace  of  mind,  and  wear  clean 
shirts,  though  we  have  not  a  guinea !  As  Fisher  and  I  were  reduced  to  a  melancholy 
duet  by  the  departure  of  Haverfield,  we  found  no  small  pleasure  in  having  an  acces- 
sion to  our  party  by  the  arrival  of  Ridley  and  Young.  As  the  latter  has  not  opened 
his  mouth  nor  his  eyes  since  he  came,  though  to  my  certain  knowledge  the  bell  has 
rung  thrice  a  day,  we  yet  consider  ourselves  as  but  a  trio.  Harry,  whom  nature 
formed  in  a  very  philosophical  mould,  and  endued  with  such  a  seeming  indifference 
to  place,  that  one  should  conclude  she  intended  him  for  a  citizen  of  the  world,  ex- 
presses but  little  regret  upon  the  occasion,  and  accommodates  himself  with  great 
facility  to  the  collegiate  plan.  How  happy  would  it  be  for  those  who  are  doomed  to 
drag  on  a  few  more  years  here,  if  they  could  acquire  this  blessed  versatility,  and  thus 
calmly  acquiesce  in  what  they  cannot  avoid ! 

"I  was  about  to  begin  my  lamentations  upon  the  invisibility  of  a  certain  fair  one, 
but  I  am  determined  to  check  my  inclination.  If  I  do  not  take  the  advice  contained 
in  that  salutary  aphorism,  'Obsta  principiis,'  the  subject  is  so  favourite  an  one,  the 
theme  so  much  my  darling,  that  I  generally  forget  that  there  is  something  impertinent 
in  boring  others  upon  topics  indifferent  to  them,  however  interesting  to  yourself.  If 
you  have  experienced  this  from  me,  I  know  you  will  make  charitable  allowances.  I 
confess  my  weakness  and  will  guard  against  it. 

"The  Count  of  the  Flaxen  Empire  intends  visiting  this  seat  of  literature:  I  shall 
have  the  honour,  I  suppose,  of  escorting  his  mightiness  around  this  place.  His 
Burgundy  must  suffer  for  this  in  the  long  vacation.  As  to  the  dear  little  tygress  of 
Taploe,  I  will  not  flatter  myself  with  the  hopes  of  seeing  her,  where  a  disappointment 
is  so  probable. 

"I  had  some  thoughts  of  delivering  your  compliments  to  the  Countess  of  the  Hill 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  45 

en  passant,  but  I  was  deterred  by  considerations  of  propriety,  nor  was  I  certain  how 
far  the  awkwardness  of  a  fellow  of  a  college  might  have  been  detrimental  to  the 
interests  of  his  friend  with  the  lady. 

"Come  in!— 'tis  the  little  barber;  which  puts  me  in  mind  that  I  left  the  gentleman 
of  Tanfield  Court  without  paying  him.  It  was  his  own  fault;  however,  pray  inform 
him  that  after  our  next  charity  sermon,  he  shall  have  his  share  of  the  colleciion  :  i.  e. 
when  I  come  to  town  again  I  will  pay  him:  or,  if  he  is  in  any  great  hurry  for  the 
cash,  if  you  will  ask  him  what  sum  his  honour  will  be  satisfied  with,  I  will  send  it 
him  by  the  first  opportunity. 

"  Pray  remember  me  to  Bunney,  Lane,  &c.:  and  if  invisibility  become  visible,  then 
remember  me,  who  am,  with  great  sincerity, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  J.  SCOTT.* 

"  Univ.  Coll.  Wednesday." 

Bunney,  commemorated  in  this  letter,  took  the  name  of  Hartopp 
on  his  marriage,  and  was  created  a  baronet  in  1796.  The  motionless 
man  appears  to  have  been  the  Mr.  William  Young,  who  was  after- 
wards a  baronet  and  member  for  St.  Mawes.  Haverfield  was  long 
remembered  in  Lord  Eldon's  circle,  as  having  executed  a  picture  or 
drawing,  which  represented  seven  companions,  including  John  Scott. 
It  had  the  honour  to  hang  in  a  room  where  they  were  in  the  habit  of 
meeting ;  but  Lord  Eldon  used  to  observe,  that  it  was  a  piece  of  art 
which  did  not  stand  high  in  public  estimation:  for,  said  he,  "when 
the  furniture  of  that  room  was  brought  to  auction,  the  auctioneer, 
with  all  his  eloquence,  could  induce  no  one  to  bid  more  than  three- 
pence halfpenny :  not  very  encouraging  to  any  feelings  of  personal 
vanity  we  might  have,  being  at  the  rate  of  one  halfpenny  for  each  of 
the  seven." 

Ridley  has  already  had  a  full  introduction  to  the  reader.  Fisher 
was  the  companion  of  Scott,  when,  as  the  latter  used  to  relate,  the 
two  young  collegians,  having  come  from  Oxford  to  London  for  a  day 
or  two,  paid  a  visit  to  the  opera,  arid  both  fell  asleep.  Scott,  however, 
had  this  advantage,  that  he  began  his  nap  after  his  companion,  and 
awoke  before  him.  This  enabled  him  to  divert  himself  at  the  expense 
of  the  other,  whom  he  rated  for  his  want  of  musical  taste,  till,  having 
indulged  in  the  rally  to  his  full  content,  he  confessed  with  a  laugh 
that  he  also  had  been  guilty  of  the  same  barbarism.  He  then  com- 
posed himself  for  another  nap,  begging  that  if  he  should  be  still  asleep 
at  the  commencement  of  the  dancing,  Fisher  would  wake  him.  He 
used  to  admit  very  fairly,  in  his  maturer  years,  that  the  opera  afforded 

*  NOTE  BT  THE  PRESENT  LoRT>  Ei.Tiox. — The  Count  of  the  Flaxen  Empire  may 
mean  Mr.  Aubone  Surtees,  whose  hair  was  very  light,  and  the  reference  may  be  to  some 
intention  of  his  to  visit  the  south  in  order  to  take  his  daughter,  Miss  Surtees,  home 
from  Taplow  to  Newcastle;  and  Mr.  John  Scott's  fear  seems  to  be  that  he  will  not 
bring  the  lady  with  him  to  Oxford,  but  will  come  to  that  University  before  he  goes  to 
Mr.  Stephenson's  at  Taplow  for  her. 

"  The  Countess  of  the  Hill,"  refers  to  the  Lady  Mary  O'Bryen,  Countess  of  Orkney 
in  her  own  right,  who  resided  at  her  family  seat,  Taplow  Court,  Bucks,  the  house 
being  situated  on  very  high  ground,  and  visible  from  the  road  which  leads  from  Lon- 
don by  Henley  to  Oxford.  The  countess  was  at  this  time  the  wife  of  her  cou 
Murrough  O'Bryen,  afterwards  first  Marquess  of  Thomond;  and  the  lady  in  whom 
Mr.  Reay  is  jestingly  supposed  to  have  an  interest,  was  the  Lady  Mary  O  Bryen,  in 
the  17th  year  of  her  age,  who  afterwards  succeeded  her  mother  as  Countess  of 
Orkney. 


LIFE  OF  LORD 


him  no  amusement ;  and  told  the  present  Lord  Kenyon,  that  he  found 
it  indeed  "opera  atque  labores."  In  the  great  case  of  the  Opera 
House,  which  was  depending  for  many  years  before  him  when  chan- 
cellor, an  application  was  made,  for  the  determination  of  which  it  be- 
came necessary  to  inquire  into  the  proper  rate  of  remuneration  to  be 
allowed  for  certain  principal  singers,  and  especially  for  Madame 
Catalani :  and,  in  pronouncing  his  order,  he  said  jocularly  and  by  the 
way,  that  for  his  own  part  he  would  not  give  five  shillings  to  hear 
her  sing  for  six  months  together.  This  dictum  brought  many  jibes 
upon  him  from  his  lady  friends,  who  showed  him  as  little  mercy  as 
he  had  himself  extended  to  Fisher.  One  day  being  hard  pressed,  he 
answered  slyly,  "  Well,  I  don't  deny  having  said  so ;  but  which  of 
you  would  listen,  on  any  terms,  to  the  best  singer  in  the  world, 
'•for  six  months  together  ? ' ' 

It  was  believed  in  Miss  Surtees's  family  that  the  object  of  her 
parents,  in  sending  her  from  Newcastle  to  her  uncle  Slephenson,  was 
to  put  her  out  of  Mr.  John  Scott's  way:  but  it  has  been  seen  that  the 
young  lover,  even  when  in  London,  contrived  to  keep  up  his  interest 
with  her,  by  occasionally  joining  her  and  the  other  ladies  of  Mr. 
Stephenson's  family,  during  their  walks  in  Hyde  Park.  "  I  suspect," 
says  Mr.  John  Surtees,  her  brother,  "  that  at  home  their  flirtations  had 
been  chiefly  on  the  Shields  Road,  where  she  used  to  ride  attended 
only  by  a  man-servant.  The  riding  scheme,  I  think,  began  in  this 
way.  Sir  Walter  Blackett,  popularly  called  the  King  of  Newcastle, 
then,  I  suppose,  seventy  years  of  age,  used  to  lend  Lady  Eldon  a 
handsome  pony,  and  to  accompany  her  on  horseback.  He  was  called 
to  London  to  attend  Parliament,  and  died  some  time  after.  She, 
riding  one  of  my  father's  horses,  continued  her  rides  as  before,  and 
Lord  Eldon  used,  I  believe,  to  meet  her.  Young  as  I  then  was, both 
from  my  own  observation  and  what  I  learnt  from  others,  I  cannot 
doubt  that  Lady  Eldon  had  made  considerable  impression  on  the  mind 
of  Sir  Walter.  She  was  handsome,  silent  and  reserved;  and  per- 
haps her  reserve,  in  his  eyes,  was  one  of  her  charms.  He  was  a 
widower  without  an  heir  to  inherit  his  large  fortune,  great  part  of  which 
was  entailed  on  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth  (afterwards  Blackett)  whom 
he  hated ;  and  it  is  probable  that  those  circumstances,  connected  with 
his  extreme  attention,  might,  without  other  reason,  have  given  rise  to 
the  report  that  he  was  about  to  pay  his  addresses  to  her.  He  stopped 
a  long  time  at  my  father's  house  in  his  way  to  London,  and  whilst  his 
carriage  was  waiting  for  him  there,  much  gossip  was  going  on,  in  my 
father's  house  and  in  the  street,  on  the  subject  of  Sir  Walter  and  my 
sister. 

"  I  do  not  believe  that  he  paid  his  addresses  to  her,  nor  do  I  be- 
lieve that  she  ever  considered  him  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a 
benign  old  man,  very  kind  to  her.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  my  sister 
Fanny  being  in  London,  she  would  have  made  me  her  confidant  on 
this  as  on  other  occasions. 

"  Of  this  Sir  Walter  there  is  an  anecdote,  which  I  remember  Sir 
Matthew  Ridley  told  at  Blagdon,  and  which,  as  he  justly  observed, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  47 

proved  the  great  strength  of  Sir  Walter's  constitution.  On  some 
occasion  he  gave  a  great  dinner,  probably  before  some  election. 
Oceans  of  wine  were  drunk,  and  no  man  quitted  his  house  '  either 
sorrowful  or  sober.'  Sir  Walter,  from  feverish  heat  occasioned  by  the 
wine  he  had  drunk,  could  not  rest  in  his  bed.  He  soon  quitted  it, 
and  walked  as  well  as  he  could  into  his  pleasure  ground,  and  threw 
himself  on  a  bench.  There  he  lay  till  morning  :  when  he  found  that 
his  shirt  was  actually  frozen  to  the  bench  on  which  he  lay.  He  was 
without  other  dress  than  his  shirt  and  nightcap.  His  health  was  un- 
injured. 

"  Sir  Matthew,  on  another  occasion,  mentioned  that  he  called  upon 
Sir  Walter,  then  on  his  bed  of  death,  and  was  quite  shocked  to  see  a 
man  once  so  popular,  in  a  state  so  forlorn  and  derelict,  without  a  rela- 
tion or  friend  in  the  house  to  soothe  his  last  moments,  and  apparently 
neglected  by  servants  who  had  spent  their  lives  in  his  service. 

"About  this  time,  perhaps  a  little  before  it,  a  Mr.  Spearman,  a 
young  man  of  signal  talents,  and  like  many  other  men  of  great  imagi- 
nation, eccentric  and  flighty,  proposed  to  my  sister  Elizabeth  in  a 
letter  sent  by  his  servant.  The  servant  was  detained  a  few  minutes, 
and  a  negative  was  written  and  sent  by  him.  He  had  a  considerable 
landed  property  in  the  county  of  Durham,  and  was  author  of  one  of 
the  best  election  papers  I  ever  read.  Spearman  I  never  saw  but  once, 
and  then  he  was  strutting  before  my  father's  house  in  a  black  coat 
richly  embroidered  with  silver  lace." 

Mrs.  Ridley,  Lady  Eldon's  youngest  sister,  used  to  speak  of  a  Mr. 
Errington,  another  gentleman  of  large  fortune  in  Northumberland,  who 
made  a  propasal  to  her  father  for  Elizabeth,  and  was  rejected  by  her 
for  the  sake,  probably,  of  Mr.  John  Scott.  The  gentleman  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  inconsolable :  for  on  hearing  that  the  elder  sister 
had  declined  the  honour  intended  for  her,  he  intimated  to  the  father 
that,  under  these  circumstances,  he  should  not  object  to  take  the 
younger.  The  younger,  however,  was  not  to  be  thus  summarily  dis- 
posed of,  and  the  negotiation  was  a  total  failure. 

Miss  Surtees  had  no  fortune  of  her  own ;  and  Mr.  John  Scott  had 
nothing  to  maintain  her  with  except  his  industry  and  talents.  In  such 
circumstances,  it  was  natural  that  the  parents  of  both  parties  should 
disapprove  the  match ;  but  the  following  letter  from  William  to  his 
father  indicates  that  Mr.  Scott  was  willing  to  concede  much  for  John's 
happiness. 

(Mr.,  afterwards  Sir,  William  Scoll  to  his  father.') 

"Oct.  23, 1772. 

"  Dear  Father, 

"  I  returned  to  college  last  night,  a  few  days  sooner  than  I  intended,  on  Chambers  * 
account,  who  labours  under  the  same  indisposition  which  confined  him  at  Newcastle. 
*•***•»•* 

"In  a  letter  from  Jack,  I  find  that  you  are  now  fully  acquainted  with  the  affair  l>< 
tween  Miss  Surtees  and  himself,  anil  that  you  are  kind  enough  to  forgive  an  indis- 
cretion which  a  rigid  prudence  might,  perhaps,  condemn.    I  must  own  I  am  clearly 
of  opinion  that  in  consenting  to  his  wishes  you  act  with  a  true  paternal  regard 
happiness,  which,  as  far  as  I  can  judge  from  my  own  experience,  would  not  1 
promoted  by  a  long  continuance  iu  college.    The  business  in  which  I  am  engaged  i» 


48  LIFE  OF  LORD 

so  extremely  disagreeable  in  itself,  and  so  destructive  to  health  (if  carried  on  with 
such  success  as  can  render  it  at  all  considerable  in  point  of  profit),  that  I  do  not  won- 
der at  his  unwillingness  to  succeed  me  in  it.  The  kindness  of  his  friends,  therefore, 
would  be  very  judiciously  employed  in  providing  for  him  in  some  manner  more 
agreeable  to  his  own  inclinations,  and  more  consistent  with  his  health.  The  pur- 
chase of  a  next  presentation  to  a  living  is  the  most  obvious  way  of  giving  him  an 
early  settlement.  If  you  determine  upon  this  method,  the  sooner  we  make  the  neces- 
sary inquiries  the  better.  If  you  will  give  me  leave,  I  will  endeavour  to  procure  what 
information  I  can." 

********* 

Still,  however,  the  courtship  remained  either  uncommunicated  to, 
or  discountenanced  by,  the  lady's  parents,  who  seem  to  have  been 
pressing  her  to  some  more  ambitious  match :  and  the  young  people 
soon  came  to  a  conclusion  that  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  take  a 
course  of  their  own.  Miss  Surtees,  therefore,  made  up  her  mind  to  a 
decisive  measure ;  and,  on  the  night  of  the  18th  of  November,  1772, 
descended  by  a  ladder  into  the  arms  of  her  lover,  from  a  window  of 
her  father's  house  in  the  Sandhill,  Newcastle. 

The  intelligence  of  their  elopement  came  upon  the  different  mem- 
bers of  the  family  in  Love  Lane,  through  various  channels  arid  with 
various  effects.  John  had  disclosed  his  intention  to  his  sister  Jane ; 
from  whom  the  elder  sister  Barbara  received  the  intelligence  on  the 
very  night  of  the  event.  Mr.  William  Scott,  their  father,  did  not 
learn  what  had  happened  till  the  morning.  The  following  is  a  minute 
made  by  Miss  Forster,  of  her  own  dialogue  upon  these  matters  with 
her  great  aunt. 

Miss  Scott  (Barbara). — The  night  that  Jack  ran  away  to  Scotland, 
I  knew  nothing  about  it;  but  Jenny  had  scarcely  got  into  bed  before 
she  took  to  sobbing  and  crying  at  such  a  rate  ;  I  could  not  tell  what 
was  the  matter.  At  last  she  said,  "  Oh  Babby,  Jack  has  run  away 
with  Bessy  Surtees  to  Scotland  to  be  married — what  will  my  father 
say  ?" — You  may  be  sure  there  was  no  sleep  for  us  that  night.  I  was 
not  over  well  pleased  either,  that  Jack  had  told  Jenny,  and  not  told 
me :  however,  when  he  came  back  he  said  he  wanted  to  tell  me,  but 
could  not  find  an  opportunity.  We  talked  and  we  cried  all  that 
night. 

Miss  Forster. — Well,  but  aunt,  what  said  my  grandfather  ? 

Miss  S. — Well,  you  may  be  sure  we  went  down  to  breakfast  all 
trembling :  but  we  had  bathed  our  eyes  in  cold  water,  and  composed 
ourselves  as  we  best  could — and  when  my  father  came  in,  there  was 
a  letter  lying  from  Jack,  which  he  read  and  put  into  his  pocket,  and 
said  never  a  word  about  it :  so  we  were  left  to  guess  what  was  to  be 
done. 

By  this  time,  however,  the  lovers  were  beyond  pursuit.  They  had 
traveled  all  night;  and  now,  on  the  morning  of  the  19th  of  Novem- 
ber, they  reached  a  village  called  Blackshiels,  which  lies  close  to  Fala 
in  Scotland,  and  is  the  last  posting  stage  on  the  road  from  Newcastle, 
by  Morpeth  and  Coldstream,  to  Edinburgh.  At  Blackshiels  they 
halted,  and  were  married  there  by  a  minister  of  the  Scottish  church. 

The  certificate  of  this  marriage  was  found  among  Lord  Eldon's 
papers  after  his  death,  and  is  in  the  following  words: — 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  49 

"  John  Scott,  of  the  parish  of  All  Saints,  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
Gent.,  and  Elizabeth  Surtees,  of  St.  Nicholas  parish,  in  the  same  town, 
spinster,  were  married  at  Blackshiels,  North  Britain,  according  to  the 
form  of  matrimony  prescribed  and  used  by  the  Church  of  England,  on 
this  nineteenth  day  of  November,  1772,  by 

"  J.  BUCHANAN,  Minister. 
In  the  pre-  (  James  Fairbairn. 
sence  of    (  Thos.  Fairbairn." 

The  lady,  who  had  only  on  the  23d  of  the  preceding  month  com- 
pleted her  eighteenth  year,  is  said  to  have  been  extremely  attractive, 
both  in  countenance  and  in  figure.  Her  form  was  slender  and  her 
step  light:  and,  even  in  advanced  age,  she  retained  much  of  her 
youthful  symmetry,  though  she  never  showed  the  least  inclination  for 
personal  display,  continuing,  throughout  her  life,  to  wear  her  hair  pow- 
dered, and  adhering,  in  most  other  particulars,  to  the  style  of  dress 
which  had  been  prevalent  in  her  early  days. 

The  marriage  having  been  solemnized,  the  young  couple  hastened 
back  from  Scotland ;  but  when,  on  their  return,  they  arrived  at  Mor- 
peth  late  in  the  evening,  the  inn  there,  the  Queen's  Head,  was  full : 
and  they  obtained  their  wedding-night's  lodging  only  by  the  especial 
civility  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nelson,  the  landlord  and  landlady,  who  gave 
up  their  own  room.  The  great  anxiety  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Scott 
was  now  for  an  answer  to  the  letter  which  he  had  addressed  to  his 
father;  and  they  stayed  a  day  or  two,  awaiting  the  result,  at  the 
Queen's  Head.  "  The  bride,"  says  Miss  Forster,  "  used  to  describe 
this  period  as  the  most  miserable  part  of  the  whole  business.  Their 
funds  were  exhausted,  they  had  not  a  home  to  go  to,  and  they  knew 
not  what  their  friends  would  say.  In  this  mournful  dilemma,  she  sud- 
denly espied  from  the  window  a  fine  large  wolf  dog  called  Loup, 
walking  along  the  street:  a  joyful  sight,  for  she  felt  assured  a  friend 
was  near :  and,  in  a  few  minutes,  my  grandfather,  Mr.  Henry  Scott, 
entered  the  room,  bringing  with  him  the  forgiveness  of  his  father  Mr. 
Scott,  and  an  invitation  for  the  youthful  bride  and  bridegroom  to  Love 
Lane,  which  was  gladly  accepted." 

The  friends  of  both  parties,  however,  were  greatly  chagrined  by 
the  match.  "  Jack  Scott  has  run  off  with  Bessy  Surtees,"  exclaimed 
Mr.  Moises,  "and  the  poor  lad  is  undone!"  The  father  of  the  bride 
was  so  much  displeased,  that  for  some  time  he  would  not  even  speak 
to  the  bridegroom's  father,  with  whom  he  had  before  been  on  friendly 
terms.  The  latter,  who  had  an  impression  that  Mr.  Surtees  was  not 
really  a  man  of  so  large  a  fortune  as  he  wished  to  be  thought,  and  that 
he  was  willing  to  part  with  but  little  of  what  he  might  really  possess, 
went  up  to  him  one  day  on  the  Exchange,  saying,  "  Mr.  Surtees,  why 
should  this  marriage  make  you  so  cool  with  me  ?  I  was  as  little  wish- 
ful for  it  as  yourself;  but,  since  what  is  done  cannot  be  undone,  for 
every  hundred  pounds  you  put  down  for  your  daughter,  I  will  cover 
it  with  another  for  my  son."—"  You  are  too  forgiving,  Mr.  Scott, 
VOL.  i. — 4 


50  LIFE  OF  LORD 

you  are  too  forgiving,"  was  the  answer:  "  that  would  be  rewarding 
disobedience." 

It  has  been  said,  upon  highly  respectable  authority,  that,  at  the 
anxious  and  critical  period  which  immediately  followed  his  marriage, 
Lord  Eldon  had  a  narrow  escape  from  being  a  grocer.  The  particu- 
lars, as  related  in  the  Oxford  Herald  of  28th  January,  1838,  are,  that 
a  worthy  and  wealthy  grocer  of  Newcastle,  who  had  no  children  of 
his  own,  paid  a  friendly  visit  to  Mr.  Scott  the  elder,  upon  his  son's 
marriage,  and  after  expressing  an  apprehension  that  Mr.  Surtees  would 
never  forgive  either  his  daughter  or  John  Scott,  proposed  to  take  John 
into  partnership  ;  that  Mr.  Scott  deferred  his  answer  till  he  should  have 
received  a  letter  which  he  was  expecting  from  William ;  and  that 
William's  letter  determined  the  answer  in  the  negative. 

The  letter,  from  which  the  following  passages  are  extracted,  was 
addressed,  in  the  earlier  part  of  December,  by  the  young  bridegroom 
to  his  friend  Reay  at  Oxford. 

"  My  dear  Reay, 

"It  gives  me  some  satisfaction  to  find  that,  amidst  the  censures  of  those  whose 
frowns  I  despise,  and  the  applause  of  others  whose  good  opinion  I  am  not  very  anx- 
ious to  secure,  a  change  of  life  on  my  part  has  not  been  attended  with  a  change  of 
sentiments  on  yours.  Those  who  knew  me  not  were  at  liberty  to  deal  out  their 
plaudits,  or  express  their  disapprobation  in  as  strong  terms  as  they  pleased,  and 
whilst  I  expected,  from  impertinent  ignorance  or  morose  old  age,  reflections  upon, 
my  honour  and  my  prudence,  I  was  contented  that  the  latter  should  be  suspected  by 
those  friends  whose  knowledge  of  me  would  lead  them,  without  hesitation,  (I  flattered 
myself)  to  believe  that  I  had  acted  with  an  unremitting  attention  to  the  former.  Vir- 
tuit  mea  me  involvo  •  and  I  can,  with  the  greatest  confidence,  retire  from  the  harsh 
criticisms  of  a  world  which  must  ever  remain  ignorant  of  the  justifyingcircumstanc.es, 
to  a  heart  which  will  never  reproach  me.  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  suspected  of  vanity, 
if  I  assert  that  no  man  who  knew  me  thoroughly  would  condemn  me  as  consulting 
only  the  gratification  of  a  boyish  passion." 

After  pleading  the  long  attachment  of  himself  and  his  bride,  he 
discusses  the  natural  question,  "  Did  not  prudence  suggest  that  this 
connection  should  be  deferred?"  and  the  observations  which  then 
follow  tend  to  confirm  the  conclusion  that  there  were,  about  this  time, 
one  or  more  other  suitors  for  Miss  Surtees's  hand,  who,  in  her  opinion, 
could  not  easily  be  got  rid  of  by  any  measure  short  of  the  step  which 
was  actually  taken  by  her.  He  was  reduced,  he  says,  to  the  neces- 
sity of  forming  the  connection  at  this  time,  or  bidding  farewell  to  the 
lady  for  ever.  After  a  few  other  observations  in  support  of  the  course 
thus  taken,  he  proceeds : — 

"You  have  long  known  me,  Hal;  you  will  not  suspect  me  of  dissimulation  if,  where 
there  is  so  little  occasion  for  any  other  arguments  to  disarm  you  of  any  suspicions 
with  respect  to  the  rectitude  of  my  conduct,  I  farther  assert,  in  general  terms,  that  I 
have  only  acted  tlit  unavoidable  part:  I  cannot  honourably  descend  to  such  particulars 
as  may  prove  the  truth  of  the  assertion.  I  should  not  have  said  so  much,  if  I  had  not 
been  writing  to  a  person  whose  behaviour  has  endeared  him  to  me  so  greatly,  that  I 
should  be  uneasy  under  his  disapprobation. 

"  Such  are  the  motives  upon  which  the  scheme  was  undertaken ;  it  was  executed 
with  some  wonderful  escapes,  and  exhibits,  in  my  conduct,  some  very  remarkable 
generalship:  I  eluded  the  vigilance  of  three  watchmen,  stationed  in  the  neighbourhood, 
without  the  assistance  of  a  bribe;  and  contrived  to  be  sixty  miles  from  Newcastle 
before  it  was  discovered  that  I  had  left  the  place.  My  wife  is  a  perfect  heroine,  and 
behaved  with  a  courage  which  astonished  me.  In  truth,  fortes  Fortuna  juvat:  how 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  51 

else  can  I  account  for  the  first  intimations  about  a  scheme  which  I  should  not  have 
dreamt  would  ever  have  been  thought  of,— the  success  of  a  plan  seemingly  imprac- 
ticable,— and  the  ready  forgiveness  of  those  whom  I  expected  to  have  found  unre- 
lenting?—I  have  now,  Reay,  bid  adieu  to  all  ambitious  projects,  because  my  hi°-hest 
ambition  is  gratified:  though  a  husband,  I  am  yet  so  much  of  a  lover  as  to  think  the 
world  well  lost  whilst  I  retain  the  affections  of  one  woman,  the  esteem  of  a  few  friends 
and  the  good  wishes  of  Reay.  Some  of  the  good  folks  here,  as  you  surmised,  had 
starved  me  out  of  pure  pity:  but  though  I  shall  not  expire  by  a  surfeit,  I  think  I  shall 
scarce  die  of  hunger. 

*»*«»••» 
"With  respect  to  your  being  a  candidate  for  my  fellowship,  the  college  will  suffer 
no  loss  by  my  imprudence,  if  I  have  such  a  successor :  I  expect  to  hear  from  you 
again  soon:  in  the  mean  time,  believe  me  to  be,  dear  Reay, 

"Your  sincere  friend,  and 
"  (Upon  your  mother's  authority) 

"Your  affectionate  cousin, 

"J.Scott.* 

"Wednesday." 

In  a  little  while  Mr.  Surtees  began  to  relent,  and  a  letter  of  for- 
giveness was  despatched  to  the  bride,  through  her  brother  John,  who 
writes  this  account  of  its  results : — 

"  I  received  the  letter  of  peace  from  my  father  or  mother,  I  forget 
which,  and,  I  suppose,  in  answer  to  a  supplicatory  letter  from  the 
bride.  She  threw  her  arms  about  me  in  a  transport  of  joy,  and  kissed 
me  for  a  considerable  time,  without  intermission.  They  immediately 
after  quitted  their  father's  house,  took  up  their  abode  with  my  father, 
and  stayed  there  till  they  removed  to  Oxford." 

On  the  7th  of  January,  1773,  Mr.  Surtees  and  Mr.  Scott  entered 
into  articles,  to  which  the  young  couple  were  parties,  and  by  which 
Mr.  Surtees  covenanted  to  pay  to  Mr.  John  Scott  1000J.  as  the  por- 
tion of  his  daughter,  with  5  per  cent,  until  payment:  and  certain 
trusts  were  therein  declared  of  a  sum  of  2000£.,  for  which  Mr.  Scott 
had  given  his  bond  to  the  trustees  as  the  portion  of  his  son.  Some 
years  afterwards,  on  the  17th  of  August,  1781,  another  instrument 
was  executed,  by  which  Mr.  Surtees  bound  himself  to  pay  a  second 
portion  of  1000Z.  in  addition  to  the  like  amount  settled  by  him  in  the 
before-mentioned  articles.  Each  of  these  two  sums  carried  interest 
at  5  per  cent. 

In  order  to  give  a  higher  sanction  to  the  union  of  the  young  couple, 
it  was  arranged  that  a  marriage  should  be  solemnized  between  them 
in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Nicholas,  Newcastle.  It  was  accordingly 
celebrated  there  by  license  on  the  19th  of  January,  1773,  the  cere- 
mony being  performed  by  the  Reverend  Cuthbert  Wilson,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  Mr.  Surtees  the  elder,  and  of  Henry  Scott,  the  bridegroom's 
brother.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  register — 

"  John  Scott  and  Elizabeth  Surtees,  a  minor,  with  the  consent  of 
her  father,  Aubone  Surtees,  Esquire,  and  both  of  this  parish,  were 
married  in  this  church  by  license,  the  nineteenth  day  of  January, 
1773,  by  me, 

"  CUTH.  WILSON,  Curate. 

*  The  letter  is  endorsed, "  Rec*  at  Oxon.  Dec.  13,  1772."     This  brings  the  date  to 
the  9th. 


52  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"This  marriage  was  solemnized  between  us, 

"  JOHN  SCOTT,  )  In  the  presence  of  us, 

and  AUBONE  SURTEES. 

"ELIZABETH  SURTEES,     )  HENRY  SCOTT." 

The  ceremony  being  completed,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Scott  stepped 
into  the  chaise  which  waited  for  them  at  the  church  door,  and  set  off 
on  their  way  to  Oxford. 

"  I  remember,"  says  Mr.  John  Surtees,  in  a  communication  trans- 
mitted to  his  niece,  Miss  Ridley,  of  Battersea,  for  the  present  work, 
— "  I  remember,  while  they  were  living  with  us  after  their  marriage, 
Lord  Eldon  gaily  observing,  that  he  had  been  very  susceptible :  that 
Miss  Allgood,  daughter  of  Sir  Launcelot  Allgood  was  his  '  first  flame,' 
but  that  she  was  scornful."  Mr.  Surtees  adds,  "She  and  your  very 
dear  mother  (Mrs.  Ridley)  used  to  correspond,  though  she,  Miss  All- 
good,  was  a  few  years  older  than  either  of  my  sisters.  Lady  Eldon 
had  no  female  friend :  your  mother  had  many.  Lady  Eldon,  your 
mother,  Matt,  and  I,  the  four  youngest,  formed  a  circle  of  our  own, 
and  I  well  remember  Lady  Eldon  telling  me  that  she  would  impart 
to  me  a  great  secret  if  she  did  not  fear  that  her  confidence  might  get 
me  into  a  scrape. 

"  I  remember  Lord  Eldon  taking  me  on  his  knee,  a  few  days  before 
he  left  my  father's  to  reside  in  Oxford,  and  saying  that  he  had  two 
strings  to  his  bow  :  that  if  a  University-College-living  fell  vacant  in 
the  course  of  the  year,  he  should  accept  it ;  but  that  he  would  apply 
himself  to  the  law  as  a  last  resource,  if  the  church  failed  him.  I 
remember  also  he  wrote  a  letter  to  my  brother  Matt,  then  about  to 
leave  school,  and  go  to  Oxford  with  the  intention  of  entering  into  the 
church.  In  that  letter  he  stated  that  it  had  then  become  necessary 
that  he  should  renounce  'his  first  mistress,'  the  church,  and  pursue  a 
profession  which  had  much  less  of  his  affection  and  respect ;  but  that 
if  fraud  might  be  effected  by  the  agency  of  one  man,  it  might  be  de- 
feated by  the  instrumentality  of  another.  These  sentiments  were  very 
feelingly  and  gracefully  expressed,  and  I  repeat  this  language  feebly 
and  clumsily.  It  is  near  70  years  since  I  read  the  letter." 

Mr.  Matthew  Surtees's  widow  records  that  "  she  heard  her  husband 
say  he  spent  a  five-guinea  piece  which  his  uncle  and  godfather  had 
given  him  as  a  keepsake  (all  the  money  he  could  command),  to  buy 
some  spoons,  which  he  gave  to  Lord  Eldon  as  his  marriage  gift." 

Such  were  the  circumstances  of  a  marriage,  which  eventually,  by 
obliging  Mr.  Scott  to  vacate  his  fellowship,  precluded  him  from  any 
prospect  of  preferment  in  the  church  and  determined  him  to  the  study 
of  the  law.  "Having then,"  says  Lord  Eldon, in  the  Anecdote  Book, 
"the  world  before  us,  and,  as  it  proved,  a  most  kind  Providence  my 
guide,  I  gave  up  the  purpose  of  taking  orders,  and  entered  as  a  stu- 
dent in  the  Middle  Temple,  in  January,  1773."  His  admission  bears 
date  the  28th  of  that  month,  and  is  in  these  words: — "  Die  28  Janua- 
rii,  1773,  Mar.  Johannes  Scott,  films  tertius  Gulielmi  Scott  de  Novo 
Castello  super  Tinum  Armigeri,  admissus  est  in  Societatem  Medii 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  53 

Terapli  Londini  specialiter.*  Et  dat  pro  fine  4Z." — His  relinquishment, 
however,  of  "  the  purpose  of  taking  orders,"  was  then  but  inchoate: 
for  though  the  marriage  placed  him  under  a  necessity  of  vacating  the 
fellowship  at  the  end  of  twelve  months,  yet,  during  that  intermediate 
time,  which  is  commonly  called  the  year  of  grace,  he  still  held  the 
fellowship,  with  the  option  of  accepting  any  college-living  which 
might  come  to  his  turn  within  that  period.  The  whole  of  that  year 
was,  however,  assiduously  devoted  by  him  to  his  legal  studies,  with 
the  view  he  had  before  expressed  of  having  two  strings  to  his  bow. 

*  Members  admitted  "  specially"  at  a  fine  of  4/.,  were  exempt  from  some  inconve- 
nient observances. 


LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1773_1775. 

Relinquishment  of  fellowship  and  the  church  for  the  study  of  the  law — Residence  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Scott  at  Oxford. — His  recollections  of  Dr.  Johnson. — Birth  of  a 
son. — Letters  of  John  Scott  to  his  family. — Lectures  and  anecdotes. — His  recollec- 
tions of  Serjeant  Hill. — John  Scott's  income,  labours  and  health. — His  first  esta- 
blishment in  London. — Pupilage  with  Mr.  Duane,  the  conveyancer. 

ON  the  13th  of  February,  in  the  year  1773,  he  took  his  degree  as 
Master  of  Arts;  and)  happily  for  his  fame  and  fortune,  the  twelve 
months  of  grace  passed  away,  without  the  falling  in  of  any  benefice 
to  tempt  him  back  from  the  pursuit  of  the  law.  Neither  his  Scotch 
nor  his  English  marriage  appears  in  the  records  of  University  Col- 
lege ;  but,  on  the  19th  of  November,  1773,  the  anniversary  of  the 
earlier  ceremony,  he  gave  up  his  fellowship,  in  which  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  friend  Reay.  His  resolution  to  study  the  law  is  said 
to  have  been  first  adopted  at  the  suggestion  of  his  wife's  father,  who 
had  a  high  opinion  of  his  qualifications  for  the  bar. 

For  the  greater  part  of  the  three  years,  which,  by  the  regulations 
of  the  Middle  Temple,  were  required  to  intervene  between  the 
admission  of  the  student  into  the  inn,  and  his  call  to  the  bar,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  John  Scott  continued  to  reside  in  or  near  Oxford,  though, 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  his  terms,  he  had  to  visit  London  four 
times  a  year.  During  one  of  these  visits,  he  wrote  the  following 
cordial  letter  to  the  lady  whom  his  brother  Henry  had  just  married : — 

(Mr.  John  Scott  to  Mrs.  Henry  Scott.) 
"  Madam, 

"I  flatter  myself  it  is  unnecessary  to  tell  you,  that  I  experience  a  particular  satis- 
faction in  having  an  opportunity  of  addressing  you  as  my  sister.  I  cannot  see,  with- 
out great  pleasure,  an  event  take  place,  which  has  long  engrossed  all  my  brother's 
wishes,  and  which  I  have  for  some  time  considered  as  essential  to  his  happiness. 
You  will  acquit  me  of  any  undue  partiality,  if  I  add  that  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
my  brother's  disposition  makes  me  confident  that  your  felicity  will  be  in  some  mea- 
sure augmented  by  an  union  with  a  person  who  will  pay  an  unwearied  attention  to 
you :  an  attention  cheerfully  exerted  by  one  party,  and  in  every  way  due  to  the  other. 

"I  cannot  but  regret  that  it  is  so  improbable  that  it  will  soon  be  in  my  power  to 
assure  you,  in  person,  how  happy  1  am  to  subscribe  myself, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"  J.  SCOTT. 

"London,  17th  June,  1773." 

Mr.  John  Scott,  shortly  after  his  own  marriage,  had  said,  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Lane,  a  fellow-student  of  his  at  University  College,  who 
was  then  reading  law  in  the  Temple,  "  I  have  married  rashly,  and 
have  neither  house  nor  home  to  offer  my  wife ;  but  it  is  my  deter- 
mination to  work  hard  to  provide  for  the  woman  I  love,  as  soon  as  I 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  55 

can  find  the  means  of  doing  so."  This  led  to  a  request  from  Mr. 
Lane  that  his  friend  would  bring  his  bride  to  the  house  of  Lane's 
father,  at  Millend,  Henley  on  Thames,  now  the  residence  of  Mrs. 
Hind.  The  invitation  appears  to  have  been  accepted  soon  after  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Scott  at  Oxford.  "  The  appearance  of 
the  lady,"  says  Mrs.  Hind,  in  a  letter  dated  October,  1838,  "  was 
considered  at  Millend  to  be  Mr.  Scott's  sufficient  apology  for  the 
hasty  step  he  had  taken  in  marrying ;  for  she  was  extremely  beauti- 
ful, and  so  very  young  as  to  give  the  impression  of  childhood,  espe- 
cially as  her  dress  corresponded  with  that  idea,  the  white  frock  and 
sash  being,  in  those  days,  the  distinguishing  marks  of  a  child,  as 
well  as  the  flowing  ringlets  which  hung  around  her  shoulders." 
Afterwards,  according  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brewster,  "Mr.  and  Mrs. 
John  Scott  for  some  time  resided  at  New  Inn  Hall.  Sir  Robert 
Chambers  (also  a  native  of  Newcastle)  was  principal  of  the  Hall : 
he  had  been  a  fellow  of  University  College,  and  was  at  that  time 
Vinerian  professor  of  law :  about  this  period,  he  was  appointed  one 
of  the  first  judges  that  were  sent  to  India;  and  was  then  on  the  point 
of  removal.  At  that  period,  New  Inn  Hall  had  no  resident  members 
except  the  principal,  who  had  been  permitted  to  hold  his  situation 
for  a  few  years  during  his  proposed  absence.  In  consequence  of 
this,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scott  were  accommodated  with  his  apartments  for 
a  time ;  and  while  I  was  resident  at  Lincoln  College,  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  paying  them  occasional  visits." 

Lord  Eldon's  Anecdote  Book  has  the  following  reminiscences  of 
Dr.  Johnson  at  Oxford: — "I  had  a  walk,  in  New  Inn  Hall  Garden, 
with  Dr.  Johnson,  Sir  Robert  Chambers  and  some  other  gentlemen. 
Sir  Robert  was  gathering  snails,  and  throwing  them  over  the  wall 
into  his  neighbour's  garden.  The  doctor  reproached  him  very 
roughly,  and  stated  to  him  that  this  was  unmannerly  and  unneigh- 
bourly.  '  Sir,'  said  Sir  Robert,  '  my  neighbour  is  a  Dissenter.' — 
*  Oh !'  said  the  doctor,  '  if  so,  Chambers,  toss  away,  toss  away,  as 
hard  as  you  can.' ' 

"The  doctor  \vas  frequently,  apparently,  very  absent.  I  have 
seen  him  standing  for  a  very  long  time,  without  moving,  with  a  foot 
on  each  side  of  the  kennel  which  was  then  in  the  middle  of  the 
High  Street,  Oxford,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  water  running  in  it. 

"  If  put  out  of  temper,  he  was  not  very  moderate  in  the  terms  in 
which  he  expressed  his  displeasure.  I  remember  that,  in  the  com- 
mon room  of  University  College,  he  was  dilating  upon  some  subject, 
and  the  then  head  of  Lincoln  College,  Dr.  Mortimer,  was^  present. 
Whilst  Johnson  was  stating  what  he  proposed  to  communicate,  the 
doctor  occasionally  interrupted  him,  saying,  'I  deny  that.'  This 
was  often  repeated,  and  observed  upon  by  Johnson,  as  it  was  re- 
peated, in  terms  expressive  of  increasing  displeasure  and  anger.  At 
length,  upon  the  doctor's  repeating  the  words  « I  deny  that,'  >ir, 
sir,'  said  Johnson,  'you  must  have  forgot  that  an  author  has  said, 
'  Plus  negabit  unus  asinus  in  unS  hora,  quam  centum  philosophi  pro- 
baverint  in  centum  annis.'  " 


56  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Mrs.  John  Scott  used  to  speak  of  Dr.  Johnson's  having  drunk  tea 
with  her  and  her  husband  at  Oxford,  and  to  relate  that  she  had  her- 
self helped  him  one  evening  to  fifteen  cups. 

It  was  during  the  residence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Scott  at  New 
Inn  Hall,  that  their  eldest  son  John,  the  father  of  the  present  earl, 
was  born,  on  the  8th  of  March,  1774.  In  an  illness  which  hung 
about  Mrs.  Scott  for  a  considerable  time  after  her  confinement,  their 
medical  friend,  Mr.  Nurse,  lent  them  his  house  at  Woodeaton ;  and 
though  reputed  a  man  of  rough  manners,  he  yet  continued,  as  she 
and  Lord  Eldon  ever  testified,  to  attend  her  with  the  kindest  care, 
declining  all  remuneration. 

(Mr.  William  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry.') 

"May  17,  1774. 

"Jack's  wife  has  had  a  melancholy  time,  but  is  now,  thank  God,  in  a  fair  way. 
Jack  behaved  to  her  with  infinite  tenderness,  and  she  really  deserves  it,  for  she  is  an 
excellent  wife,  and  makes  him  very  happy  under  the  inconveniences  of  a  scanty 
income." 

******** 

(Mr.  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry.) 

"  New  Inn  Hall,  May  28, 1774. 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"I  am.jriuch  indebted  to  you  for  your  letters.  Under  the  apprehensions  of  losing 
my  wife.t^ey  relieved  my  spirits,  though  it  was  out  of  the  power  of  man  to  raise  them. 
I  consider  myself  as  particularly  obliged  to  you  for  taking  so  much  notice  of  us,  at 
a  time  when  any  attention  seems  singular;  my  father  never  writing  more  than  three 
lines,  and  my  sisters  having  forgot  that  we  are  yet  in  the  land  of  the  living. 

******** 
"I  hope  once  more  to  see  you  about  this  time  two  years,  when  I  intend,  if  I  can 
manage  it,  to  come  your  circuit;  and,  in  case  of  encouragement,  I  shall,  some  three 
years  after  that,  perhaps  settle  in  Newcastle." 

****  **** 

(Mr.  John  Scott  to  Mrs.  Henry  Scott.) 
"My  dear  Sister, 

"It  is  fortunate  for  me,  perhaps,  that  the  relation  in  which  we  stand  to  each  other, 
by  giving  apologies  an  air  of  formality,  should  render  them  unnecessary;  for  in  truth 
1  am  utterly  at  a  loss  for  any  which  can  atone  for  so  long  a  silence.  In  one  respect.  I 
consider  myself  as  laudably  singular:  I  am  unwilling  to  give  way  to  the  prevailing 
mode  of  treating  our  nearest  friends  with  the  greatest  indifference.  I  have  been, 
therefore,  somewhat  desirous  to  send  you  a  letter  better  worth  your  acceptance  than 
I  fear  you  will  find  this ;  but  I  shall  be  contented  to  be  charged  with  dulness,  if  you 
acquit  me  of  inattention. 

"Indeed,  you  cannot  have  so  little  candour  as  to  expect  any  thing  entertaining  from 
so  deep  a  retirement  as  this :  and  you  will  meet  with  very  little  which  can  repay  you 
for  calling  off  your  attention  from  the  active  scenes  at  Newcastle,  were  I  to  give  you 
a  full  and  true  account  of  all  the  transactions  at  our  hermitage.  As  I  find,  by  my 
brother's  letter,  that  he  frequently  amuses  himself  with  a  gun,  I  take  it  for  granted 
you  are  not  troubled  with  those  unreasonable  apprehensions  about  his  safety  which 
some  of  your  sex  indulge ;  and  shall,  therefore,  unless  you  give  me  your  orders  to  the 
contrary,  contribute  to  his  participation  of  another  dangerous  but  favourite  exercise, 
by  sending  him  a  pair  of  skates.  But  as  I  consider  you  as  fully  vested  with  a  right 
to  control  his  inclinations  in  all  these  matters,  I  shall  pay  a  due  deference  to  your 
wishes,  if  you  are  pleased  to  communicate  them.  Mrs.  Scott's  affectionate  compli- 
ments wait  upon  you.  Do  me  the  justice  to  believe,  that  I  feel  a  real  happiness  in 
being  able  to  style  myself, 

"Your  affectionate  brother, 

"JoHs  SCOTT. 
"Woodeaton, 
Sept.  26.  (probably  1774.)" 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  57 

The  present  Earl  of  Eldon  gives  the  following  particulars  respect- 
ing the  pursuits  of  his  grandfather  at  this  period  of  his  life. 

"  During  the  years  1774  and  1775,  John  Scott  held  the  office  of  a 
tutor  of  University  College,  but  the  late  Dr.  Fisher,  then  his  colleague, 
informed  me,  that,  to  the  best  of  his  belief,  Mr.  Scott  never  did  more 
as  a  tutor  than  attend  to  some  members  of  the  college,  as  his  law 
pupils,  while  he  resided  at  Oxford.  He  had  no  share  of  the  emolu- 
ments, Fisher  receiving  one-third,  and  William  Scott,  the  senior  tutor, 
receiving  the  other  two-thirds,  and  doing  double  work." 

About  this  time,  however,  Mr.  John  Scott  gave  lectures  on  the  law 
as  deputy  for  Sir  Robert  Chambers,  the  Vinerian  professor :  and  for 
this  service  he  appears  to  have  had  60/.  a  year.  Talking  to  Mrs. 
Forster  of  these  lectures,  Lord  Eldon  said, — "  The  most  awkward 
thing  that  ever  occurred  to  me  was  this :  immediately  after  I  was  mar- 
ried, I  was  appointed  deputy  professor  of  law  at  Oxford,  and  the 
law  professor  sent  me  the  first  lecture,  which  I  had  to  read  immediately 
to  the  students,  and  which  I  began  without  knowing  a  single  word 
that  was  in  it.  It  was  upon  the  statute  of  young  men  running  away 
with  maidens.*  Fancy  me  reading,  with  about  one  hundred  and 
forty  boys  and  young  men  all  giggling  at  the  professor.  Such  a 
tittering  audience  no  one  ever  had." 

"  The  first  cause  I  ever  decided  was  an  apple-pie  cause":  I  must 
tell  you  of  it,  Mary.  I  was,  you  know,  a  senior  fellow  at  University 
College,  and  two  of  the  under-graduates  came  to  complain  to  me,  that 
the  cook  had  sent  them  an  apple-pie  that  could  not  be  eaten.  So  I  said 
I  would  hear  both  sides.  I  summoned  the  cook  to  make  his  defence ; 
who  said  that  he  always  paid  the  utmost  attention  to  the  provisions  of 
the  college,  that  he  never  had  any  thing  unfit  for  the  table,  and  that 
there  was  then  a  remarkably  fine  fillet  of  veal  in  the  kitchen.  Now 
here  we  were  at  fault ;  for  I  could  not  understand  what  a  fillet  of 
veal  in  the  kitchen  had  to  do  with  an  apple-pie  in  the  hall.  So,  in 
order  that  I  might  come  to  a  right  understanding  of  the  merits  of 
the  case,  I  ordered  the  pie  itself  to  be  brought  before  me.  Then 
came  an  easy  decision :  for  the  messenger  returned  and  informed  me 
that  the  other  under-graduates  had  taken  advantage  of  the  absence  of 
the  two  complainants  and  had  eaten  the  whole  of  the  apple-pie :  so 
you  know  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  decide  that  was  not  eatable 
which  was  actually  eaten.  I  often  wished,  in  after-life,  that  all  the 
causes  were  apple-pie  causes :  fine  easy  work  it  would  have  been. 

"  The  first  real  cause  I  ever  decided  was  at  Doncaster.  A  matter 
had  to,come  on  there  before  the  recorder,  in  which  he  was  personally 
concerned,  and  he  asked  me  to  try  it  for  him.  Thus  I  decided  a 
cause  before  I  was  a  judge." 

On  the  13th  of  October,  1774,  Mr.  John  Scott  took  up  his  freedom 
of  the  corporation  of  Newcastle.  His  brother  William  had  done  the 
like  on  the  8th  of  October,  1766. 

The  terms  at  the  Middle  Temple,  and  other  inns  of  court,  are  kept 
by  the  actual  presence  of  the  student  at  dinner,  in  the  hall  of  thesoci- 

•  4  &  5  Phil.  &  Ma.  8.  ch. 


5&  LIFE  OF  LORD 

ety,  for  a  certain  number  of  days  in  each  of  twelve  terms.  Through 
the  bans,  thus  published,  the  profession  of  the  bar  is  espoused.  In 
the  years  1773,  1774  and  1775,  when  Mr.  Scott  was  going  through 
the  requisite  quarterly  solemnities  in  London,  the  great  leviathan 
of  legal  learning  was  Mr.  Serjeant  Hill,  of  whom  the  Anecdote  Book 
has  these  characteristic  notices : — 

"  Very  shortly  after  I  had  entered  Westminster  Hall  as  a  student, 
Serjeant  Hill,  who  was  a  most  learned  lawyer,  but  a  very  singular  man, 
stopped  me  in  the  hall  and  said,  '  Pray,  young  gentleman,  do  you 
think  herbage  and  pannage  rateable  to  the  poor's  rate  ?'  I  answered, 
'  Sir,  I  cannot  presume  to  give  any  opinion,  inexperienced  and  un- 
learned as  I  am,  to  a  person  of  your  great  knowledge  and  high  cha- 
racter in  the  profession.'  'Upon  my  word,'  said  the  Serjeant,  'you 
are  a  pretty  sensible  young  gentleman ;  I  don't  often  meet  with  such. 
If  I  had  asked  Mr.  Burgess,  a  young  man  upon  our  circuit,  the  ques- 
tion, he  would  have  told  me  I  was  an  old  fool.  You  are  an  extra- 
ordinary sensible  young  gentleman.' ' 

"  Mr.  Serjeant  Hill  began  an  argument  in  the  King's  Bench,  in  my 
hearing,  thus  : — '  My  Lord  Mansfield  and  judges,  I  beg  your  pardon.' 
— '  Why,  brother  Hill,  do  you  ask  our  pardon  ?' — '  My  lords,'  said  he, 
'I  have  seventy-eight  cases  to  cite.' — 'Seventy-eight  cases,'  said 
Lord  Mansfield,  'to  cite !  you  can  never  have  our  pardon,  if  you  cite 
seventy-eight  cases.' — After  the  court  had  given  its  decision  upon  the 
case  (which  was  against  the  Serjeant's  client)  Lord  Mansfield  said, — 
'  Now,  brother  Hill,  that  the  judgment  is  given,  you  can  have  no  objec- 
tion on  account  of  your  client  to  tell  us  your  real  opinion,  and  whether 
you  don't  think  we  are  right.  You  know  how  much  we  all  value  your 
opinion  and  judgment.'  The  serjeant  said  he  very  much  wished  to 
be  excused,  but  he  always  thought  it  his  duty  to  do  what  the  court 
desired;  '  and  upon  my  word,'  said  he,  '  I  did  not  think  that  there 
were  four  men  in  the  world  who  could  have  given  such  an  ill-founded 
judgment  as  you  four,  my  lords  judges,  have  pronounced." 

"  When  Mr.  Hotham  was  made  a  baron  of  the  exchequer,  who 
had  never  had  any  business  at  the  bar,  but  who,  by  the  effect  of  great 
natural  good  sense  and  discretion,  made  a  good  judge,  he  gave,  as 
usual,  a  dinner  at  Serjeant's  Inn,  to  the  judges  and  the  Serjeants. 
Serjeant  Hill  drank  his  health  thus : — '  Mr.  Baron  Botham,  I  drink 
your  health.' — Somebody  gently  whispered  the  serjeant,  that  the 
baron's  name  was  not  Botham  but  Hotham. — 'Oh!'  said  the  ser- 
jeant aloud,  '  I  beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  Baron  Hotham,  I  beg  your  par- 
don for  calling  you  Mr.  Baron  Botham — but  none  of  us  ever  heard 
your  name  in  the  profession  before  this  day!' ' 

To  the  foregoing  story,  which  the  Anecdote  Book  gives  in  two  places, 
Lord  Eldon  appends  this  observation :  "  The  baron  made  an  extremely 
good  judge.  He  had  not  much  legal  learning,  but  he  had  an  excel- 
lent understanding,  great  discretion,  unwearied  patience,  and  his 
manners  were  extremely  engaging:  and,  these  qualities  insuring  to 
him,  in  a  very  large  measure,  the  assistance  of  the  bar,  he  executed 
his  duties  of  a  judge  with  great  sufficiency." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  59 

It  has  been  supposed  that,  at  this  period  of  Mr.  John  Scott's  life 
he  was  indebted  to  his  brother  William  for  an  income  in  the  nature 
of  an  allowance.  This  is  an  error.  He  had  loans  from  his  brother, 
and  probably  presents ;  and  his  correspondence  shows,  that  to  the 
very  end  of  his  life  he  considered  himself  under  deep  obligations  for 
his  brother's  early  and  unvarying  kindness ;  but  he  told  a  familiar 
friend,  not  many  years  before  his  death,  that  he  never  had  an  allow- 
ance, except  from  his  father. 

His  health  was  at  first  unequal  to  the  severe  labour  which  he  im- 
posed upon  himself  after  his  marriage :  and  his  appearance  soon  be- 
tokened that  he  was  studying  "not  wisely,  but  too  well."  He  used 
to  relate  that,  in  1774,  when  he  and  Mr.  Cookson,  another  invalid, 
were  returning  to  Oxford  from  Newcastle,  where  they  had  been  to 
vote  at  the  general  election  for  Sir  Walter  Blackett  and  Sir  Matthew 
White  Ridley,  the  cook  of  the  Hen  and  Chickens  Inn  at  Birmingham, 
which  they  reached  about  eleven  at  night,  insisted  upon  dressing 
something  hot  for  them,  saying  she  was  sure  they  would  neither  of 
them  live  to  see  her  again. — A  medical  friend  thought  it  necessary 
to  remonstrate  with  Scott,  and  enforce  the  necessity  of  some  abate- 
ment in  his  severe  application.  "It  is  no  matter,"  answered  he: 
"  I  must  either  do  as  I  am  now  doing,  or  starve."  Pursuing  the 
advice  of  Lord  Coke,  he  read  "non  multa,  sed  multum."  He 
rose  at  the  early  hour  of  four  in  the  morning:  observed  a  careful 
abstinence  at  his  meals:  and,  in  order  to  prevent  the  invasion  of 
drowsiness,  studied  at  night  with  a  wet  towel  round  his  head.  He 
was  wont,  in  his  later  life,  to  recur  to  those  days  as  not  unhappy,* 
though  laborious;  but  the  next  letter  shows  that  his  spirits  were 
sometimes  a  good  deal  depressed. 

(  Mr.  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry. ,) 

"  Oxford,  Jan.  2,  1775. 
"  My  dear  Brother, 

"As  I  think  it  is  not  a  very  good  quality  in  a  social  creature  to  communicate  his 
griefs,  I  have  been  very  unwilling  to  write  to  you,  when  illness  preyed  so  much  upon 
my  spirits  that  I  could  not  but  foresee  that  a  gloomy  strain  of  melancholy  would 
sully  every  page  of  my  sheet.  But  as  the  state  of  my  body  and  soul  are  both  con- 
siderably amended,  as  my  spirits  have  resumed  their  wonted  fire,  I  now  venture  to 
attack  you,  and  will  be  presumptuous  enough  to  hope  you  will  think  my  letter  worth 
receiving,  particularly  as  it  finds  its  way  to  you  in  a  frank. 

******* 
"I  suppose  the  din  of  politics  is  heard  no  more,  and  the  brawls  of  drunken  patriot- 
ism infest  your  streets  no  longer. 

*  »  »  «  *  •  « 

"  The  scheme  of  voting  according  to  the  instructions  of  constituents  appears  to 
me,  moreover,  so  fundamentally  wrong,  that  if  the  rage  of  patriotism  should  continue 
another  seven  years,  I  believe  I  shall  hazard  a  pamphlet  among  you:  as  I  think  it 
will  be  no  difficult  matter  to  prove  that  it  has  neither  the  authority  of  reason  nor  the 
sanction  of  law  to  support  it." 

As  the  time  now  approached  when  he  was  to  be  called  to  the  bar, 
it  became  necessary  for  him  to  provide  himself  with  an  abode  m 
London.  In  his  latter  life,  as  he  was  one  day  passing  through  Cur- 
sitor  Street  with  Mr.  Pensam,  his  secretary  of  bankrupts,  he  pointed 

*  Law  Magazine,  No.  xli. 


60  LIFE  OF  LORD 

to  a  house  in  that  street,  and  said,  "  There  was  my  first  perch. 
Many  a  time  have  I  run  down  from  Cursitor  Street  to  Fleet  Market" 
(then  occupying  the  site  which  is  now  called  Farringdon  Street)  "to 
get  sixpenny-worth  of  sprats  for  supper."  From  that  earliest  of  his 
residences,  the  following  letter  is  dated : — 

(Mr.  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry.} 

"Cursitor  Street,  Dec.  5, 1775. 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"  I  am  at  length  settled  in  the  circle  of  lawyers,  and  begin  to  breathe  a  little,  after 
the  laborious  task  of  removing  a  family,  which  is  a  work  as  difficult  as  that  of  re- 
moving a  mountain.  You  know,  probably,  that  this  is  only  a  step  preparatory  to  a 
settlement  among  you,  which  I  begin  to  think  is  a  prospect  that  brightens  upon  me 
every  day.  I  have  been  exceedingly  fortunate  in  forming  my  previous  connections, 
as  the  object  which  I  had  most  at  heart  I  have  obtained.  The  great  conveyancing  of 
your  country  is  done  by  Mr.  Duane:  it  seemed  to  be,  therefore,  a  most  desirable  thing 
to  be  connected  with  him,  as  his  recommendation  and  instructions  might  probably 
operate  much  in  my  behalf  hereafter.  The  great  fear  arose  from  his  never  having 
taken  any  person  in  the  character  of  a  pupil  before,  and  the  apprehension,  that  if  he 
should  now  break  through  a  general  rule,  it  must  be  on  terms  with  which  I  could  not 
afford  to  comply;  but  he  has  offered  me  every  assistance  in  his  power,  and  is  so  ex- 
tremely ready  to  forward  my  schemes,  as  to  declare  himself  contented  with  the  satis- 
faction he  will  enjoy  in  contributing  to  the  success  of  a  person  whom  he  is  so 
uncommonly  kind  as  even  to  honour.  This  conduct  of  his  has  taken  a  great  load  of 
uneasiness  off  my  mind,  as  in  fact  our  profession  is  so  exceedingly  expensive,  that  I 
almost  sink  under  it.  I  have  got  a  house  barely  sufficient  to  hold  my  small  family, 
which  (so  great  is  the  demand  for  them  here)  will  in  rent  and  taxes  cost  me  annually 
sixty  pounds.  I  thank  God  it  will  be  only  for  two  years  at  most.  I  have  been  buy- 
ing books,  too,  for  the  last  ten  years,  and  I  have  got  the  mortification  to  find,  that  be- 
fore I  can  settle  that  article  of  trade,  for  as  such  I  consider  it,  will  cost  me  near  two 
hundred  pounds: — not  to  mention  the  price  of  a  voluminous  wig. 

******* 

"  I  do  not  see  your  name  among  the  addressers :  surely  the  friends  of  government 
are  more  numerous  among  you. — We  addressed  from  Oxford;  that  is,  I  gave  it  nei- 
ther countenance  nor  opposition,  for  I  do  not  care  sixpence  about  the  matter,  though 
I  think,  in  point  of  law,  the  Americans  are  wrong,  and  do  not  see  any  alternative  but 
to  conquer  or  separate  entirely  from  them.  This  is  only  between  you  and  me," 
&c.  &c. 

A  little  more  than  a  fortnight  before  his  death  he  was  speaking  to 
Mr.  Farrer,  the  master  in  Chancery,  of  this  period  of  his  life.  "  I 
was  for  six  months,"  he  said,  "  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Duane  the  con- 
veyancer. He  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  a  most  worthy  and  excellent 
man."  Referring  to  Mr.  Duane's  liberality  in  taking  him  without  a 
fee,  Lord  Eldon  added,  "  That  was  a  great  kindness  to  me.  The 
knowledge  I  acquired  of  conveyancing  in  his  office  was  of  infinite 
service  to  me  during  a  long  life  in  the  Court  of  Chancery." 

In  the  same  conversation,  he  told  Mr.  Farrer  that  he  had  never 
been  in  the  office  of  any  special  pleader  or  equity  draftsman.  "  How 
then,"  asked  Mr.  Farrer,  "did  you  acquire  your  knowledge  of  plead- 
ing?" "Why,"  answered  Lord  Eldon,  "I  copied  every  thing  I 
could  lay  my  hand  upon."  Two  large  volumes  of  precedents,  thus 
copied  by  him,  he  lost,  and  would  often  regret.  He  supposed  he 
had  lent  them  to  some  friend,  but  could  not  recollect  to  whom.  Of 
such  borrowers,  he  would  sometimes  say,  "  that  though  backward  in 
accounting,  they  seemed  to  be  practised  in  book-keeping." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON. 


CHAPTER  V. 
1776—1780. 

Call  to  the  bar. — Death  of  Mr.  Scott,  sen. — His  will. — Old  stories  of  Westminster 
Hall. — Dr.  Heberden. — Northern  circuit. — John  Lee. — Anecdotes. — Lord  Mans- 
field's levee. — Newspapers. — Lord  C.  J.  De  Grey. — Letters  of  William  and  John 
Scott. — Riots. 

IT  was  in  Hilary  term,  1776,  on  the  9th  of  February,  that  Mr.  John 
Scott  was  called  to  the  bar  by  the  honourable  society  of  the  Middle 
Temple.  The  society's  books  contain  the  following  entries  in  the 
proceedings  of  their  parliaments:  — 

"At  a  parliament  holden  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  November,  1775,  Mr.  Scott,  J., 
proposed  by  Mar.  Gibbon  is  for  their  masterships'  consideration,  if  they  will  be  pleased 
to  call  him  to  the  degree  of  the  Utter  Bar. 

"  At  a  parliament  holden  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  January,  1776,  the  petition  of  Mr. 
Scott,  J.,  a  member  of  this  society,  being  read,  setting  forth  that  at  the  .time  of  his  be- 
coming a  student  of  this  society,  he  was  of  full  standing  for  the  degree  of  .Master  of 
Arts  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  was  then  regularly  and  without  favour  of  con- 
vocation admitted  to  that  degree;  that  he  was  admitted  of  this  society  on  the  28th 
day  of  January,  1773,  and  might,  by  their  masterships'  permission,  and  the  favour 
usually  granted  to  Masters  of  Arts,  be  called  to  the  bar  on  the  29th  of  January,  1776; 
but  without  some  particular  indulgence  of  their  masterships,  he  could  not  be  called 
to  the  bar  in  the  beginning  of  the  term;  he  therefore  humbly  prayed  the  favour  of 
their  masterships,  that  the  usual  day  of  calling  to  the  bar  might  be  adjourned  from  this 
day  to  Monday  the  29th;  or  to  grant  him  such  other  indulgence  as  their  masterships 
should  think  fit.  It  is  ordered  that  it  be  rejected. 

"  At  a  parliament  holden  the  ninth  day  of  February,  1776,  ordered  that  Mr.  Scott, 
J.  be  called  to  the  degree  of  the  Utter  Bar." 

"  When  I  was  called  to  the  bar,"  said  he  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "Bessy 
and  I  thought  all  our  troubles  were  over :  business  was  to  pour  in, 
and  we  were  to  be  almost  rich  immediately.  So  I  made  a  bargain 
with  her,  that,  Muring  the  following  year,  all  the  money  I  should 
receive  in  the  first  eleven  months  should  be  mine,  and  whatever  I 
should  get  in  the  twelfth  month  should  be  hers.  What  a  stingy  dog 
I  must  have  been  to  make  such  a  bargain  !  I  would  not  have  done 
so  afterwards.  But,  however,  so  it  was;  that  was  our  agreement: 
and  how  do  you  think  it  Jurned  out?  In  the  twelfth  month  I  received 
half  a  guinea;  eighteen  pence  went  for  fees,  and  Bessy  got  nine 
shillings :  in  the  other  eleven  months  I  got  not  one  shilling." 

He  used  to  relate  that  he  had  been  called  to  the  bar  but  a  day 
or  two,  when,  on  coming  out  of  the  court  one  morning,  he  was 
accosted  by  a  dapper-looking  attorney's  clerk,  who  handed  him  a 
motion-paper,  in  some  matter,  of  course,  which  merely  required  to  be 
authenticated  by  counsel's  signature.  He  signed  the  brief,  and  the 
attorney's  clerk,  taking  it  back  from  him,  said,  "  A  fine  hand  yours, 
Mr.  Scott,  — an  exceedingly  fine  hand!  It  would  be  well  for  us, 


DZ  LIFE  OF  LORD 

sir,  if  gentlemen  at  the  bar  would  always  take  a  little  of  your  pains 
to  insure  legibility.  A  beautiful  hand,  sir !  "  While  he  spoke  thus, 
the  eloquent  clerk  was  fumbling,  first  in  one  pocket,  then  in  the 
other;  till,  with  a  hurried  air,  he  said,  "A — a — a — ,  I  really  beg 
your  pardon,  sir,  but  I  have  unfortunately  left  my  purse  on  the  table 
in  the  coffee-room  opposite  ;  pray,  do  me  the  favour  to  remain  here, 
and  I  will  be  back  in  one  moment."  So  speaking,  the  clerk  vanished 
with  the  rapidity  of  lightning:  "and  never,"  said  Lord  Eldon,  in 
telling  the  story,  "  did  I  set  eyes  on  that  man  again." 

Mr.  Scott,  his  father,  did  not  live  even  to  see  the  future  chancellor 
fairly  launched  into  business.  The  year  in  which  the  son  was  called 
to  the  bar  was  that  in  which  the  father  departed  this  life.  He  died 
on  the  6th  of  November,  1776,  and  was  buried  at  All  Saints', 
Newcastle.  A  local  act  of  Parliament  prohibits  the  erection  of 
monuments  in  that  edifice;  and  William  and  Henry,  the  elder 
brothers  of  Lord  Eldon,  appear  to  have  disliked  any  other  situation 
for  a  memorial  of  their  parent  than  the  actual  resting-place  of  his 
remains;  but,  after  the  death  of  both  those  brothers,  Lord  Eldon 
dedicated  a  tablet  to  his  memory  in  the  mother  church  of  St.  Nicholas, 
with  the  following  unostentatious  inscription :  — 

IN  MEMORY  OF 
MR.   WILLIAM    SCOTT, 

FREEMAN    AND     HOASTMAN    OF     THIS    TOWN, 
WHO  WAS  BURIED  AT  ALL  SAINTS'  CHURCH, 

NOVEMBER,   1776. 

HE  LEFT  TO  HIS  FAMILY  A  RICH  INHERITANCE,  IN  THE 

EXAMPLE  OF  A  LIFE  OF  INDUSTRY  UNREMITTING, 

OF  PROBITY  UNSULLIED,  AND  OF  PIETY 

MOST  PURE  AND  SINCERE. 

THIS  TABLET  IS  PLACED  HERE  BY  ONE  OF  HIS 
AFFECTIONATE  SONS. 

After  Lord  Eldon's  death,  there  was  found  in  his  handwriting  the 
following  memorandum  of  his  father's  circumstances  and  merits :  — 

"Malt;  coals;  ships;  underwriting  ships ;  grindstones  for  foreign  countries ;  coal 
barges  on  the  Tyne,  12,  13, 14,  or  16 ;  two  men  each,  all  the  year  through ;  sole  owner 
of  a  sugar  house  in  Newcastle;  owner  of  various  houses  and  large  gardens  ;  bought 
two  estates  in  the  county  of  Durham.  Lord  Stowell  never  would  sell  them  after  his 
father's  death  because  they  were  his  father's.  At  his  death  there  were  few  persons 
in  Newcastle  town  of  substance  equal.  He  provided  liberally  for  his  eldest  son  as 
such,  and  decent  fortunes  for  his  several  younger  children,  sons  and  daughters. 

"The  best  inheritance  the  father  could  leave  to  all  his  children  was,  in  remem- 
brance of  his  industry  unremitting,  his  probity  never  interrupted,  his  piety  most  con- 
stant and  pure,  his  exemplary  life." 

By  his  will,  dated  26th  December,  1774,  Mr.  William  Scott  ap- 
pointed his  eldest  son  William  his  sole  executor,  to  whom  he  left 
his  estate  at  Usworth,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  and  various  proper- 
ties in  Newcastle,  including  his  residence  in  Love  Lane,  which  was 
given  subject  to  a  life  interest  for  his  widow.  To  her  he  gave  also 
an  annuity  of  100J.,  to  his  son  Henry  3000/.,  and  to  John  1000/., 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  63 

in  addition  to  the  2000/.  settled  at  his  marriage ;  to  each  of  his 
two  daughters,  Barbara  and  Jane,  1500/.,  and  to  his  granddaughter 
Ann  Cramlington,  1200/.  Shortly  after  Lord  Stowell's  death,  Lord 
Eldon  told  the  present  earl  that  the  property  left  to  Lord  Stowell  by 
their  father  amounted  in  value  to  24,000/.  or  25,000/. 

Mr.  John  Scott  took  care  to  improve  his  professional  knowledge, 
not  only  by  conveyancing  at  the  chambers  of  Mr.  Duane,  in  which 
pursuit  he  seems  to  have  persevered  for  some  months  after  his  call  to 
the  bar,  but  by  careful  observation  in  court  of  the  manner  in  which 
business  was  done  by  the  ablest  and  most  experienced  leaders. 
During  this  apprenticeship,  he  began  to  store  up  with  his  legal  lore, 
the  amusing  gossip  of  Westminster  Hall,  and  collected  a  great  maga- 
zine of  professional  stones,  which  he  related  in  after  life  with  most 
agreeable  humour,  and  of  which  many  are  preserved  in  the  Anecdote 
Book. 

Among  them,  it  is  related  that  -Mr.  Dunning,  who  was  the  most 
eminent  of  the  counsel  practising  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  when 
Mr.  Scott  first  entered  the  profession,  "had,  some  years  before,  when 
solicitor-general,  diverted  himself  by  making  an  excursion,  in  vaca- 
tion time,  to  Prussia.  From  his  title  of  solicitor-general,  the  king 
supposed  him  to  be  a  general  officer  in  the  British  army ;  so  he  invited 
him  to  a  great  review  of  his  troops,  and  mounted  him,  as  an  eminent 
military  person,  upon  one  of  his  finest  chargers.  The  charger  carried 
the  solicitor-general  through  all  the  evolutions  of  the  day,  the  "  gene- 
ral" in  every  movement  being  in  a  most  dreadful  fright,  and  the  horse's 
duty  never  allowing  him  to  dismount.  He  was  so  terrified  and  distressed 
by  this  great  compliment,  that  he  said  he  never  would  go  abroad  again 
as  a  general  of  any  sort." 

The  Anecdote  Book  relates  the  following  particulars  of  the  conduct 
of  a  cause  in  which  Mr.  Scott  was  Mr.  Dunning's  junior : 

"  I  had,  very  early  after  I  was  called  to  the  bar,  a  brief  in  business 
in  the  King's  Bench,  as  junior  to  Mr.  Dunning.  He  began  the  argu- 
ment, and  appeared  to  me  to  be  reasoning  very  powerfully  against 
our  client.  Waiting  till  I  was  quite  convinced  that  he  had  "mistaken 
for  what  party  he  was  retained,  I  then  touched  his  arm,  and,  upon  his 
turning  his  head  towards  me,  I  whispered  to  him  that  he  must  have 
misunderstood  for  whom  he  was  employed,  as  he  was  reasoning  against 
our  client.  He  gave  me  a  very  rough  and  rude  reprimand  for  not 
having  sooner  set  him  right,  and  then  proceeded  to  state,  that  what 
he  had  addressed  to  the  court  was  all  that  could  be  stated  against  his 
client,  and  that  he  had  put  the  case  as  unfavourably  as  possible  against 
him,  in  order  that  the  court  might  see  how  very  satisfactorily  the  case 
against  him  could  be  answered ;  and,  accordingly,  very  powerfully 
answered  what  he  had  before  stated." 

Mr.  Scott  did  not  long  occupy  his  Cursitor  Street  "perch,"  but 
removed  to  a  small  house  in  Carey  Street,  which  was  adapted  for 
the  double  purpose  of  a  residence  and  of  business-chambers.  His 
labours  were  lightened  by  the  constant  companionship  of  his  wife, 
who  accustomed  herself  to  his  hours,  and  would  sit  up  with  him, 


64  LIFE  OF  LORD 

silently  watching  his  studies.  But  his  application  was  still  too  intense 
for  his  health.  It  was  scarcely  three  years  after  the  ominous  remarks 
of  the  cook  at  Birmingham,  that  Dr.  Heberden  despatched  him  to 
Bath,  with  notice,  that  if,  in  three  or  four  weeks,  the  waters  should 
bring  on  the  gout,  all  was  well ;  but  that  if  this  result  was  not  effected, 
he  must  prepare  for  the  worst. 

What  followed  at  this  interview  was  narrated  by  him,  late  in  life, 
to  Mr.  Farrer,  in  the  following  words: — "I  put  my  hand  into  my 
pocket,  meaning  to  give  Heberden  his  fee ;  but  he  stopped  me,  saying, 
'Are  you  the  young  gentleman  who  gained  the  prize  for  the  essay  at 
Oxford?'  I  said  I  was.  'I  will  take  no  fee  from  you.  Go  to  Bath, 
and  let  me  see  you  when  you  return.'  I  did  go  to  Bath,  and  drank 
the  waters,  and  had  a  fit  of  the  gout.  My  health  was  much  improved. 
I  called  to  thank  Heberden:  I  often  consulted  him;  but  he  never 
would  take  a  fee.  He  was  a  very  kind  man." 

In  the  second  season  of  his  professional  career,  his  prospects  began 
to  improve  a  little,  and  only  a  little.  The  Duke  of  Northumberland, 
who,  when  quartered  at  Newcastle,  had  received  some  attentions  from 
Mr.  Surtees,  evinced  his  sense  of  those  civilities  by  retaining  Mr. 
Scott  in  a  proceeding  before  the  House  of  Lords ;  but  on  the  northern 
circuit,  which  he  had  naturally  selected,  his  early  progress  was  not 
rapid.  Mr.  Surtees's  interest  had  procured  him  a  general  retainer  for 
the  corporation  of  Newcastle ;  but,  during  his  first  few  circuits,  he 
got  little  business,  except  that  which  is  usually  entrusted  to  mere 
beginners — the  defence  of  prisoners  indicted  for  petty  felonies.  In 
Mr.  Scott's  time,  a  considerable  number  of  these  offences  were  capi- 
tal, and  caused  much  anxiety  to  the  defending  counsel.  It  is  true  that, 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  there  could  be  then,  as  now,  but  little  scope 
for  an  advocate's  skill ;  because,  in  at  least  that  proportion  of  cases, 
the  nature  of  the  proof  for  the  prosecution  is  so  direct  and  positive, 
as  to  baffle  all  the  arts  of  defence ;  and  the  acquittals,  occasionally 
pronounced,  proceed,  for  the  most  part,  from  the  absence  of  some 
material  piece  of  evidence,  or  the  mistake  or  wilfulness  of  some  one 
or  more  of  the  witnesses  or  jurymen.  Now  and  then,  however,  there 
will  really  be  enough  of  doubt  to  give  the  prisoner  a  fair  chance  of 
acquittal,  if  his  counsel  do  not  commit  him  by  an  indiscreet  question- 
ing of  the  witnesses :  and  the  general  vice  of  young  and  inexperienced 
advocates  is  a  proneness  to  this  imprudence.  But  Mr.  Scott's  discre- 
tion and  caution — 

Insigne  mcestis  presidium  reis — 

exempted  him  from  the  common  error.  He  was  wont  to  say  jocu- 
larly, that  he  had  been  a  most  effective  advocate  for  prisoners ;  for 
that  he  had  seldom  put  a  question  to  a  prosecutor. 

Mr.  Lee,  afterwards  solicitor-general,  who  was  familiarly  known  in 
the  legal  and  professional  circles  of  that  time  as  Jack  Lee,  had  a  good 
deal  of  business  on  the  northern  circuit  when  Mr.  Scott  joined  it,  and 
treated  the  novice  with  distinction  and  kindness.  The  circuit,  in 
those  days,  was  usually  performed  on  horseback,  and  at  its  close, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  g5 

Lee  and  Scott  would  ride  homeward  together.     Lord  Eldon's  Anec- 
dote Book  has  the  following  recollections  of  these  journeys: 

"  When  I  first  went  the  northern  circuit,  I  employed  my  time,  having 
no  business  of  my  own,  in  attending  to  the  manner  in  which  the  lead- 
ing counsel  did  their  business.  I  left  Lancaster,  at  the  end  of  a  circuit 
with  my  friend  Jack  Lee,  at  that  period  a  leader  upon  the  circuit! 
We  supped  and  slept  at  Kirkby  Lonsdale  or  Kirkby  Stephen.  After 
supper  I  said  to  him,  '  I  have  observed  that  throughout  circuit,  in  all 
causes  in  which  you  were  concerned,  good,  bad,  indifferent,  what- 
ever their  nature  was,  you  equally  exerted  yourself  to  the  utmost  to 
gain  verdicts,  stating  evidence  and  quoting  cases,  as  such  statement 
and  quotation  should  give  you  a  chance  of  success,  the  evidence  and 
the  cases  not  being  stated  clearly,  or  quoted  with  a  strict  attention  to 
accuracy  and  to  fair  and  just  representation.  Can  that,'  said  I 
'Lee,  be  right?  Can  it  be  justified?'—'  Oh,  yes,'  he  said,  'undoubt- 
edly. Dr.  Johnson,'  he  stated,  '  had  said  that  counsel  were  at  liberty 
to  state,  as  the  parties  themselves  would  state,  what  it  was  most  for 
their  interest  to  state.'  After  some  interval,  and  when  he  had  had 
his  evening  bowl  of  milk-punch  and  two  or  three  pipes  of  tobacco, 
he  suddenly  said,  '  Come,  Master  Scott,  let  us  go  to  bed.  I  have 
been  thinking  upon  the  questions  that  you  asked  me,  and  I  am  not 
quite  so  sure  that  the  conduct  you  represented  will  brine:  a  man  peace 
at  the  last.' 

"I  have  understood  that  Dr.  Johnson's  statement  was  to  this 
effect : — that  as  it  was  the  duty  of  counsel  to  give  information  to  the 
court,  he  ought  to  state  facts  accurately,  to  quote  cases  accurately,  to 
misrepresent  nothing  with  respect  either  to  facts  or  cases,  and  having 
accurately  stated  facts  and  quoted  cases,  he  was  at  liberty  in  conscience 
to  reason  upon  them  to  the  very  best  of  his  powers  and  abilities ; 
and  as  the  law  supposed  the  judge  to  be  an  abler  man,  and  an  abler 
lawyer  than  the  counsel,  the  judge  was  to  reason  better  upon  the  facts 
and  the  cases  than  the  counsel;  and,  proceeding  in  this  way,  the 
counsel  did  nothing  wrong  in  thus  gaining  the  cause  for  his  client. 
But  it  may  be  questioned  whether  even  this  can  be  supported. 

"  Of  John  Lee  I  love  to  indulge  in  the  remembrance.     To  me  he 
was  most  kind  in  my  younger  days.     He  was  a  very  powerful  cross- 
examiner  of  a  witness.     I  remember  a  witness  remonstrating  against 
the  torture  of  his  cross-examination.     The  man  who  was  clothed  in 
rags,  said,  '  Sir,  you  treat  me  very  harshly,  and  I  feel  it  the  more 
because  we  are  relations.' — 'We  relations,  fellow!'  said  Lee:  'how 
do  you  make  out  that? — '  Why,'  said  the  man,  '  my  mother  was  such 
a  person,  and  she  was  the  daughter  of  such  a  man,  and  he  was  the 
son  of  a  woman,  who  was  the  daughter  of  a  person  (naming  him), 
who  was  your  great  grandfather,  or  great,  great,  great  grandfather.' — 
'Well,'  said  Lee,  'you  are  right;  he  was  so.     And  then,  my  good 
cousin,  my  good  fourth  or  fifth  cousin,  speak  a  little  truth,  I  beseech 
thee,  for  the  honour  of  the  family — for  not  one  word  of  truth,  cousin, 
hast  thou  spoken  yet.' 

"  When  Mr.  Lee  and  I  were  returning  from  Lancaster  assizes,  he 
VOL.  i. — 5 


66  LIFE  OF  LORD 

to  Staindrop  and  I  to  Newcastle,  we  dined  at  Kirkby  Lonsdale,  and 
in  the  same  room  two  other  gentlemen  dined,  at  the  other  end  of  it. 
In  conversation,  Mr.  Lee  said  to  me,  '  Had  we  not  better  send  a  ser- 
vant forward  to  bespeak  beds  at  Kirkby  Stephen  ?'  I  said,  '  No :  in 
such  a  country,  all  travellers  should  take  their  chance.'  We  finished 
our  dinner  before  the  other  party  concluded  their  repast,  and  we  set 
out  for  Kirkby  Stephen,  where  we  were  to  sleep.  In  our  way  thither 
I  heard  a  person  coming  with  a  very  quick  pace  after  us.  When  he 
approached  us,  I  asked  him  where  he  was  going.  I  observed  that 
he  was  the  servant  of  the  party  who  had  dined  in  the  same  room  with 
us,  and  who  had  heard  me  so  generously  disclaim  all  unfair  play 
about  beds.  He  said  he  was  going  to  Kirkby  Stephen.  '  What,' 
said  I,  '  to  get  beds  for  the  gentlemen  who  dined  in  the  same  room 
with  us?' — He  answered,  'Yes,'  but  he  could  not  tell  the  sign  of  the 
house  he  was  to  go  to.  I  told  him  I  would  set  him  right  in  that 
respect,  and  directed  him  to  a  sort  of  alehouse  that  was  just  on  the 
entrance  into  the  place.  Lee  and  I  rode  on  till  we  approached,  and 
then  passed  him  standing  at  the  alehouse  door,  and  went  to  the  only 
decent  and  tolerably  good  inn  in  the  place,  where  we  slept.  Next 
morning  we  met  our  dinner  companions,  one  of  whom  said  they  had 
had  a  dreadful  uncomfortable  night,  but  added  that  he  must  own  that 
they  richly  deserved  it,  and  had  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  trick 
we  had  played  them." 

"  Jack  Lee,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  and  Miss  Forster,  "belonged 
to  Yorkshire ;  but  he  went  many  years  to  York  without  receiving  a 
single  brief.  One  afternoon,  after  dinner,  he  declared  that  he  found 
a  prophet  had  no  honour  in  his  own  country,  and  that  as  he  never 
received  a  single  guinea  in  York,  he  would  shake  the  dust  off  his 
feet,  and  leave  it  the  next  morning,  never  to  return  again.  Now 
Davenport,  on  hearing  this  determination,  went  to  his  own  lodgings, 
and  himself,  with  Wedderburn,  drew  up  a  brief."  The  sequel  ap- 
pears more  circumstantially  in  the  Anecdote  Book  than  in  the  con- 
versation with  the  ladies,  and  is  as  follows : — 

"  The  brief  purported  to  be  '  in  a  matter  entitled  the  King  against 
the  inhabitants  of  Hum  town,'  for  not  repairing  a  highway:  setting 
forth  the  indictment  and  the  names  of  the  witnesses  to  be  examined, 
and  their  testimony  in  a  most  skilful  manner,  and  they  sent  it  to  Lee's 
lodging  with  a  guinea  as  the  fee.  Lee  came  into  the  circuit  room  in 
the  evening,  and  Wedderburn  exclaimed,  '  Bless  me,  Lee,  I  thought 
you  were  gone!' — '  Well,'  said  Lee,  '  it  is  very  extraordinary:  I  was 
just  going.  I  was  shaking  the  dust  off  my  feet  in  this  place,  as  an 
abominable  place  that  I  never  would  see  again,  when,  lo!  a  brief  is 
brought  to  me,  and  I  must  stay.' — '  Well,'  said  Davenport,  '  in  what 
cause  might  that  be?'  Lee  said,  l  In  an  indictment,  the  King  against 
the  inhabitants  of  Hum  town.'  'Oh!  dear,' said  Davenport,  'they 
brought  me  a  brief  in  that  case  with  a  bad  guinea,  and  I  would  not 
take  it.  I  dare  say  they  have  given  you  the  bad  guinea.' — 'I  have 
it  in  my  pocket,'  said  Lee  :  '  here  it  is.'  Davenport  looked  at  it  and 
said,  '  Yes,  this  is  the  same  guinea,'  and  put  it  in  his  pocket.  Wed- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  67 

derburn  and  Davenport  then  told  him  the  joke  they  had  practised  to 
have  the  benefit  of  his  company  a  little  longer  at  York.  I  think,  upon 
memory,  though  he  was  a  very  good-tempered  man,  he  never  forgave 
this  joke." 

When  Lord  Eldon  told  the  story  to  Mrs.  and  Miss  Forster,  the  lat- 
ter said,  "But,  uncle,  he  did  not  go  the  next  morning?" — "No," 
answered  Lord  Eldon,  "he  did  not;  and  he  afterwards  led  almost 
every  cause  at  York;  but  that  was  his  beginning." 

"  In  my  time,"  says  Lord  Eldon,  in  the  Anecdote  Book,  "  we  had 
upon  the  northern  circuit  two  barristers  of  very  different  characters. 
Fairfax  Fearnley,  a  Yorkshire-man,  of  good  strong  natural  sense,  im- 
proved, but  not  largely,  by  a  knowledge  of  the  law,  had  a  good  deal 
of  humour,  and  was  a  great  favourite  of  the  bar  and  of  his  country- 
men in  Yorkshire.  He  was  senior  to  Mr.  Davenport,  whose  temper 
gave,  when  they  were  counsel  in  the  same  cause,  vast  plague  and 
trouble  to  Fearnley  as  the  leading  counsel,  not  assisted  by  his  junior, 
but  thwarted  in  all  he  said  or  proposed  as  leading  counsel.  Daven- 
port was  the  best-tempered  man  out  of  court,  and  the  very  worst- 
tempered  man  in  court  I  ever  knew.  When  he  was  made  king's 
Serjeant  and  knighted,  Fearnley  led  a  cause  at  York  on  one  side,  and 
Sir  Thomas  Davenport  on  the  other.  '  Gentlemen,'  said  Fearnley, 
to  a  Yorkshire  special  jury  of  gentlemen,  *  I  am  to  lead  this  cause  for 
the  plaintiff;  the  new  knight,  Sir  Thomas,  is  to  lead  it  for  the  defend- 
ant. What  Sir  Thomas  may  be  to  lead,  I  know  not ;  but  you,  gen- 
tlemen, and  I  know,  from  sad  experience,  that  he  was  a  terrible  bad 
one  to  drive.'" 

The  Anecdote  Book  has  the  following  memorandum,  a  little  am- 
plified here  by  Miss  Forster's  minutes.  "  In  passing  through  Ches- 
terfield, where  my  revered  master  Mr.  Moises  had,  after  his  taking 
orders,  been  curate,  and  which  place  he  had  left  many  years,  I  was 
led,  by  curiosity,  to  ask  the  landlord  of  the  inn  whether  he  remem- 
bered him.  'Yes,'  answered  he,  swearing,  'I  well  remember  him. 
I  have  had  reason  enough  to  remember  him.  It  was  the  worst  day 
this  place  ever  saw  that  brought  him  here.'  I  was  afraid  of  hearing 
something  hard  on  the  character  of  my  good  old  master,  and  said, 
'  Mr.  Moises  was  a  most  respectable  man.' — *  That  may  be,'  added 
the  landlord,  'but  he  married  me  to  the  worst  wife  that  ever  man  was 
plagued  with.' — 'Oh!  is  that  all?  that  was  your  own  fault;  she  was 
your  own  choice,  not  Mr.  Moises's.' — 'Yes,'  concluded  he;  'but  I 
could  not  have  been  married  if  there  had  not  been  a  parson  to  marry 
us.'" 

"  From  Ulverstone  to  Lancaster,"  says  the  Anecdote  Book,  "you 
may  go  by  the  shore,  or  by  a  road  inland.  The  former  is  much  the 
shorter  ride,  but  very  dangerous  if  the  tide  comes  in.  I  asked  the 
landlord  of  the  inn  at  Ulverstone  whether  any  persons  were  ever  lost 
in  going  by  the  sea-shore  to  Lancaster,  as  our  party  wished  to  save 
time  and  go  by  the  nearest  way  there.  *  No,  no,'  he  answered,  ' 
think  nobody  has  ever  been  lost— they  have  been  all  found  at  low 
water.' 


68  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"  When  I  was  a  very  young  man,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Fors- 
ter,  "  Lord  Mansfield  used  to  hold  levees  on  the  Sunday  evenings, 
and,  of  course,  all  the  young  lawyers  attended  as  soon  as  they  had 
a  gown  to  their  backs.  Well,  I  went,  and  it  so  happened,  on  that 
evening,  I  was  the  first,  and  the  then  Duke  of  Northumberland  came 
second;  he  had  just  been  at  Bath,  and  he  was  expatiating  upon  the 
enjoyment  he  had  had  there.  'But,'  added  his  grace,  'there  is  one 
comfort  I  could  not  have.  I  like  to  read  the  newspapers  at  breakfast, 
and  at  Bath  the  post  does  not  come  in  till  one  o'clock :  that  was  a 
drawback  to  my  pleasure.' — 'So,'  said  Lord  Mansfield,  'your  grace 
likes  the  comfort  of  reading  the  newspapers — the  comfort  of  reading 
the  newspapers ! — Mark  my  words.  You  and  I  shall  not  live  to  see 
it,  but  this  young  gentleman,  Mr.  Scott,  may, — or  it  may  be  a  little 
later, — but,  a  little  sooner  or  later,  those  newspapers,  if  they  go  on  as 
they  now  do,  will  most  assuredly  write  the  Dukes  of  Northumberland 
out  of  their  titles  and  possessions,  and  the  country  out  of  its  king. 
Mark  my  words,  for  this  will  happen.' ': 

There  was  a  time,  undoubtedly,  when  the  boding  of  Lord  Mansfield 
seemed  to  approach  its  fulfilment ;  but  that  danger  has  passed  over  : 
and,  according  to  all  present  appearance,  the  newspapers,  conducted 
as  with  few  exceptions  they  are,  and  adapting  themselves,  as  for 
the  most  part  they  do,  to  the  general  sentiments  of  the  most  respecta- 
ble classes  of  society,  appear  likely,  instead  of  abetting  an  inroad 
upon  property,  to  be  among  its  most  effective  protectors.  Indeed,  its 
cause  is  their  own.  The  machinery  of  a  newspaper  is  a  property  as 
valuable  as  the  machinery  of  a  cotton  mill.  The  sphere  of  a  leading 
newspaper's  circulation  is  a  good-will  as  profitable  as  that  of  a  great 
professional  practice  among  clients  or  patients.  Perhaps,  here  or 
there  some  dishonest  editor  may  write  up  anarchy  to  lure  buyers,  so 
long  as  he  feels  assured  that  there  is  no  danger  of  his  beholding  the 
evil  spirit  he  invokes :  but  these  are  writers  of  very  small  circulation, 
and  even  these  would  be  conservatives,  were  their  types  in  jeopardy. 

One  of  the  most  considerable  among  the  judges  of  that  time  was 
Lord  Chief  Justice  De  Grey.  "  He  was  the  object,"  says  Mr.  Farrer, 
"  of  Lord  Eldon's  highest  commendation.  He  spoke  of  him  as  a 
most  accomplished  lawyer,  and  of  most  extraordinary  power  of  me- 
mory."— "Lord  Chief  Justice  De  Grey,"  said  Lord  Eldon,  "was  a 
severe  sufferer  from  gout.  I  have  seen  him  come  into  court  with  both 
hands  wrapped  in  flannel.  He  could  not  take  a  note,  and  had  no  one 
to  do  so  for  him.  I  have  known  him  try  a  cause  that  lasted  nine  or 
ten  hours,  and  then,  from  memory,  sum  up  all  the  evidence  with  the 
greatest  correctness.  I  have  known  counsel  interrupt  him  in  his  sum- 
ming up,  and  represent  that  he  had  misstated  evidence.  '  I  am  right,' 
he  would  say, '  I  am  sure  I  am  right ;  refer  to  your  short-hand  writer's 
notes.'  He  invariably  proved  to  be  correct." 

(Mr.,  afterward*  Sir  William,  Scott,  to  his  brother  Henry.) 

[No  date:  probably  January,  1779.] 

"Business  is  very  dull  with  poor  Jack,  very  dull  indeed;  and  of  consequence,  he 
is  not  very  lively.  I  heartily  wish  that  business  may  brisken  a  little,  or  he  will  be 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  69 

heartily  sick  of  his  profession.    I  do  all  I  can  to  keep  up  his  spirits,  but  he  is  very 
gloomy.    But  mum.'  not  a  word  of  this  to  the  wife  of  your  bosom! 

*  »  *  *  *  * 

"I  shall  go  down  to  Oxford  either  Lent  term  or  Easter,  to  take  a  doctor  of  law's 
degree,  to  enable  myself  to  practise  in  the  admiralty  courts.  It  is  my  wish  and  de- 
sign, if  I  can  manage  so  as  not  to  spend  too  much  money  before,  to  get  myself  a  seat 
in  Parliament  at  the  next  general  election.  It  will  be  of  the  utmost  consequence  to 
me,  and  without  it  I  shall  never  be  able  to  do  any  thing  to  any  great  extent.  So  that 
every  thing  depends  upon  my  affairs  going  well  in  the  mean  time.  This,  however,  I 
say  to  you  in  perfect  confidence.  Mem. — No  curtain  communications." 

Green  v.  Howard,  6th  February,  1779  (Brown's  Cha.  C.  p.  31), 
appears  to  be  the  first  reported  case  in  which  Mr.  Scott  was  engaged. 
On  that  occasion,  he  was  counsel,  with  Mr.  Ambler  and  Mr.  Madocks, 
for  a  petitioner,  seeking  to  extend  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  rela- 
tions," in  a  will,  beyond  the  scope  of  the  Statute  of  Distributions. 
Their  argument  did  not  prevail. 

(Mr.  John  Scott  to  Mrs.  Henry  &o«.) 

"Dec.  7, 1779. 

"  Dear  Sister, 

"  If  you  blame  me  for  a  silence  for  which  I  am  totally  at  a  loss  what  excuse  to 
plead,  lean  assure  you  I  chastise  myself,  as  much  by  the  severity  with  which  I  re- 
flect upon  my  own  indolence  (for  to  no  other  cause  can  I  attribute  it),  as  your  good- 
nature would  make  you  wish  to  see  me  punished.  I  considered  myself  as  a  very 
great  loser  by  the  absence  of  the  family  during  the  little  time  I  could  stay  at  New- 
castle. I  meet  with  nothing  in  my  journey  so  satisfactory  to  me  as  a  little  chat  over 

the  old  parlour  fireside. 

*  «  *  *  *  »  » 

"I  took  Bessy  and  Jack  for  a  few  weeks  to  Windsor,  where  we  spent  our  time 
agreeably  enough.  The  king  and  his  family  reside  there  in  the  summer,  but  without 
any  sort  of  splendour,  walking  about  the  streets  as  plainly  dressed  and  as  familiarly 

as  other  folks. 

»•**«*• 

"Jack  is  very  fond  of  his  school,  his  mistress,  and  his  book:  though  his  uncle,  Mr. 
W.  Scott,  takes  no  small  pains  to  inform  him  how  much  it  is  beneath  the  dignity  ol 
his  sex  to  be  under  the  tuition  of  a  female.  However,  John  does  not  see  the  reason- 
ableness of  the  objections  which  his  uncle  had  to  the  good  advice  of  Mrs.  Bnggs  m 
days  of  yore." 

The  following  story,  related  by  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Forster,  be- 
longs to  the  month  of  June,  1780:—"  During  the  period  of  one  of 
the  riots  in  London,  when  I  was  a  lawyer,  I  had  to  take  Bessy  to  the 
Temple  for  safety.     I  never  suffered  more  in  my  life  than  as  we  went 
along,  for  we  were  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  insults.     They  tore  off  my 
wife's  hat,  the  handkerchief  from  her  breast,  and,  when  we  arrivec 
at  the  Temple,  every  article  of  her  dress  was  torn.     We  youngsters 
at  the  Temple  determined  that  we  would  not  remain  inactive  during 
such  times ;  so  we  embodied  ourselves  into  a  troop  to  assist  the  mill 
tary.     We  armed  ourselves  as  well  as  we  could,  and  the  next  mor 
ing  we  drew  up  in  the  court,  ready  to  follow  out  a  troop  of  soldie 
who  were  there  on  guard.     When,  however,  the  soldiers  had  pas; 
through  the  gate,  it  was  suddenly  shut  in  our  faces,  and 
locked;  and  the  officer  in  command  shouted  from  the  oth 
'  Gentlemen,  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  intended  f 
but  I  do  not  choose  to  allow  my  soldiers  to  be  shot,  so  I  have Bordered 
you  to  be  locked  in,'  and  away  he  galloped.   We  looked  very  fc 


70 


LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1780—1782. 

Mr.  John  Scott's  first  successes,  Ackroyd  v.  Smithson,  Clitheroe  committee,  etc. — 
Memorabilia  of  the  northern  circuit. — Lord  Thurlow's  friendship. — Benevolence  of 
Mr.  John  Scott. — Different  usages  of  eminent  lawyers  in  answering  cases. 

AFTER  a  trial  of  three  or  four  years,  during  which,  with  all  his  diligence, 
he  was  able  to  make  very  little  progress  in  London,  Mr.  Scott  recurred 
to  an  intention,  early  conceived  by  him,  of  settling  as  a  provincial  coun- 
sel in  his  native  town.  The  fulfilment  of  this  design  was  prevented 
by  two  unexpected  opportunities,  which  were  afforded  to  his  talents  by 
the  appeal  in  the  cause  of  Ackroyd  v.  Smithson,  and  by  the  Clitheroe 
Election  Petition.  The  circumstances  of  his  connection  with  these 
two  cases  are  best  related  in  the  words  in  which  they  were  told  by 
Lord  Eldon  himself,  little  more  than  three  weeks  before  his  death. 
He  was  sitting  in  his  arm-chair  by  his  own  fireside,  with  Mr.  Farrer, 
who  had  been  dining  with  him ;  and  upon  Mr.  Farrer's  asking  him 
whether  the  Court  of  Chancery  had  been  his  object  when  he  was  first 
called  to  the  bar,  he  answered, — "  Certainly  not.  I  first  took  my  seat 
in  the  King's  Bench ;  but  I  soon  perceived,  or  thought  I  perceived, 
a  preference  in  Lord  Mansfield  (then  the  lord  chief  justice)  for 
young  lawyers  who  had  been  bred  at  Westminster  School  and  Christ 
Church:  and  as  I  had  belonged  to  neither  Westminster  nor  Christ 
Church,  I  thought  I  should  not  have  a  fair  chance  with  my  fellows, 
and  therefore  I  crossed  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  Hall.*  Lord 
Mansfield,  I  do  believe,  was  not  conscious  of  the  bias;  he  was  a  good 
man." — "  Might  I  ask  you,  Lord  Eldon,"  said  Mr.  Farrer,  "  whe- 
ther Ackroyd  v.  Smithson  was  not  the  first  cause  in  which  you  dis- 
tinguished yourself?" — "  Did  I  never  tell  you  the  history  of  that  case? 
Come,  help  yourself  to  a  glass  of  Newcastle  port,  and  give  me  a  little. 
— You  must  know,"  he  went  on,  "  that  the  testator  in  that  cause  had 
directed  his  real  estates  to  be  sold,  and,  after  paying  his  debts  and 
funeral  and  testamentary  expenses,  the  residue  of  the  money  to  be 
divided  into  fifteen  parts — which  he  gave  to  fifteen  persons  whom  he 
named  in  his  will.  One  of  those  persons  died  in  the  testator's  life- 
time. A  bill  was  filed  by  the  next  of  kin,  claiming,  amongst  other 
things,  the  lapsed  share.  A  brief  was  given  me  to  consent  for  the 
heir-at-law,  upon  the  hearing  of  the  cause.  I  had  nothing  then  to  do 

*  Before  the  new  courts  were  built,  the  courts  of  King's  Bench  and  Chancery  were 
opposite  to  each  other,  at  the  two  corners  of  the  upper  extremity  of  Westminster  Hall, 
the  King's  Bench  being  on  the  eastern,  and  the  Chancery  on  the  western  side.  "  The 
number  of  counsel,  regularly  practising  at  the  Chancery  bar  when  Mr.  Scott  joined  it, 
is  said  (Law  Mag.,  No.  xliii.)  to  have  been  only  twelve  or  fifteen." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  71 

but  to  pore  over  this  brief.  I  went  through  all  the  cases  in  the  books, 
and  satisfied  myself  that  the  lapsed  share  was  to  be  considered  as  real 
estate,  and  belonged  to  my  client  (the  heir-at-law).  The  cause  came 
on  at  the  Rolls,  before  Sir  Thomas  Sewell.  I  told  the  solicitor,  who 
sent  me  the  brief,  that  I  should  consent  for  the  heir-at-law,  so  far  as 
regarded  the  due  execution  of  the  will,  but  that  I  must  support  the 
title  of  the  heir  to  the  one-fifteenth,  which  had  lapsed.  Accordingly, 
I  did  argue  it,  and  went  through  all  the  authorities.  When  Sir  Thomas 
Sewell  went  out  of  court  he  asked  the  register,  who  that  young  man 
was  ?  The  register  told  him  it  was  Mr.  Scott.  '  He  has  argued  very 
well,'  said  Sir  Thomas  Sewell,  '  but  I  cannot  agree  with  him.'  This 
the  register  told  me.  He  decreed  against  my  client.  The  cause 
having  been  carried  by  appeal  to  the  Lord  Chancellor  Thurlow,  a 
guinea  brief  was  again  brought  to  me  to  consent.  I  told  my  client,  if 
he  meant  by  '  consent'  to  give  up  the  claim  of  the  heir  to  the  lapsed 
share,  he  must  take  his  brief  elsewhere,  for  I  would  not  hold  it  with- 
out arguing  that  point.  He  said  something  about  young  men  being 
obstinate,  but  that  I  must  do  as  I  thought  right." — Lord  Eldon,  in 
telling  the  same  story  to  his  niece,  Mrs.  Forster,  observed,  "  You  see 
the  lucky  thing  was,  there  being  two  other  parties,  and,  the  disappoin- 
ted one  not  being  content,  there  was  an  appeal  to  Lord  Thurlow. — 
In  the  mean  while,  they  had  written  to  Mr.  Johnson,  Recorder  of  York, 
guardian  to  the  young  heir-at-law,  and  a  clever  man,  but  his  answer 
was, — '  Do  not  send  good  money  after  bad :  let  Mr.  Scott  have  a  guinea 
to  give  consent,  and  if  he  will  argue,  why  let  him  do  so,  but  give  him 
no  more.' — So  I  went  into  court,  and  when  Lord  Thurlow  asked  who 
was  to  appear  for  the  heir-at-law,  I  rose  and  said  modestly,  '  That  I 
was,  and  as  I  could  not  but  think  (with  much  deference  to  the  master 
of  the  rolls,  for  I  might  be  wrong,)  that  my  client  had  the  right  to  the 
property,  if  his  lordship  would  give  me  leave,  I  would  argue  it.' — 
It  was  rather  arduous  for  me  to  rise  against  all  the  eminent  counsel.  I 
do  not  say  that  their  opinions  were  against  me,  but  they  were  employed 
against  me.  However,  I  argued  that  the  testator  had  ordered  this 
fifteenth  share  of  the  property  to  be  converted  into  personal  property 
for  the  benefit  of  one  particular  individual,  and  that  therefore  he  never 
contemplated  its  coming  into  possession  of  either  the  next  of  kin,  or 
the  residuary  legatee ;  but,  being  land  at  the  death  of  the  individual, 
it  came  to  the  heir-at-law. — Well,  Thurlow  took  three  days  to  con- 
sider, and  then  delivered  his  judgment  in  accordance  with  my  speech, 
and  that  speech  is  in  print,  and  has  decided  all  similar  questions  ever 
since." — Lord  Eldon's  account  to  Mr.  Farrer  concludes  thus: — "As 
I  left  the  Hall,  a  respectable  solicitor,  of  the  name  of  Forster,  came 
up  and  touched  me  on  the  shoulder,  and  said,  '  Young  man,  your 
bread  and  butter  is  cut  for  life,'  or,  *  You  have  cut  your  bread  and 
butter.' — But  the  story  of  Ackroyd  v.  Smithson  does  not  stop  there. 
In  the  chancellor's  court  of  Lancaster,  where  Dunning  (Lord  Ash- 
burton)  was  chancellor,  a  brief  was  given  me  in  a  cause  in  which  the 
interest  of  my  client  would  oblige  me  to  support,  by  argument,  the 
reverse  of  that  which  had  been  decided  by  the  decree  in  Ackroyd  v. 


72  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Smithson.  When  I  had  stated  to  the  court  the  point  I  was  going  to 
argue,  Dunning  said,  '  Sit  down,  young  man.' — As  I  did  not  imme- 
diately comply,  he  repeated, '  Sit  down,  sir,  I  won't  hear  you.' — I  then 
sat  down.  Dunning  said,  'I  believe  your  name  is  Scott,  sir.' — I  said 
it  was.  Upon  which  Dunning  went  on : — '  Mr.  Scott,  did  not  you 
argue  that  case  of  Ackroyd  v.  Smithson  ? ' — I  said  that  I  did  argue  it. 
— Dunning  then  said,  l  Mr.  Scott,  I  have  read  your  argument  in  that 
case  of  Ackroyd  v.  Smithson,  and  I  defy  you  or  any  man  in  England 
to  answer  it.  I  won't  hear  you.' " 

The  cause  was  originally  heard  before  Sir  T.  Sewell,  master  of  the 
rolls,  on  the  10th  of  July,  1778,  and  the  appeal  was  argued  before 
Lord  Chancellor  Thurlow  on  the  4th  of  March,  1780.* 

Although  this  was  the  first  case  in  which  he  had  acquired  any 
public  distinction,  his  value  was  beginning  to  be  understood  among 
his  personal  connections ;  insomuch  that,  not  long  afterwards,  an  offer 
was  made  to  him  of  the  recordership  of  Newcastle.  The  salary, 
though  not  large,  was  considerable  enough  to  carry  great  temptation 
for  a  man  whose  professional  income  in  London  was  inadequate  to 
support  his  family  even  in  the  most  economical  way  of  life ;  and  he 
calculated  that  the  provincial  business  which  he  was  likely  to  obtain 
would  suffice,  (when  coupled  with  the  stipend  of  recorder,  and  with 
the  allowance  received  from  his  wife's  friends  and  his  own,)  to  supply 
the  wants  of  himself  and  of  those  who  relied  on  him.  He  therefore 
signified  his  acceptance  of  the  office,  and  caused  a  residence  to  be 
engaged  for  him  at  Newcastle.  The  abandonment  of  this  plan  is  thus 
accounted  for  by  himself: — 

"I  did  not  go  the  circuit  one  year,  Mary,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to 
Mrs.  Forster,  "because  I  could  not  afford  it;  I  had  borrowed  of  my 
brother  for  several  circuits,  without  getting  adequate  remuneration, 
and  I  had  determined  to  quit  London,  because  I  could  not  afford  to 
stay  in  it.  You  know  a  house  was  taken  for  me  at  Newcastle.  Well, 
one  morning,  about  6  o'clock,"  (probably  on  the  14th  of  March, 
1781,  the  committee  having  been  struck  on  the  13th,)  Mr.  (after- 
wards Lord)  Curzon  and  four  or  five  gentlemen  came  to  my  door  and 
woke  me,  and  when  I  inquired  what  they  wanted,  they  stated  that 
the  Clitheroe  election  case  was  to  come  on  that  morning  at  ten 
o'clock,  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  that  Mr. 
Cooper  had  written  to  say  he  was  detained  at  Oxford  by  illness,  and 
could  not  arrive  to  lead  the  cause,  and  that  Mr.  Hardinge,  the  next 
counsel,  refused  to  do  so,  because  he  was  not  prepared.  'Well, 
gentlemen,'  said  I, '  what  do  you  expect  me  to  do,  that  you  are  here?' 
They  answered, ( they  did  not  know  what  to  expect  or  to  do,  for  the 
cause  must  come  on  at  ten  o'clock,  and  they  were  totally  unpre- 
pared, and  had  been  recommended  to  me  as  a  young  and  promising 
counsel.'  I  answered,  f  I  will  tell  you  what  I  can  do ;  I  can  undertake 
to  make  a  dry  statement  of  facts,  if  that  will  content  you,  gentlemen, 
but  more  I  cannot  do,  for  I  have  no  time  to  make  myself  acquainted 

*  See  Brown's  Chancery  Cases,  vol.  i.  p.  505.;  and  Mr.  Jarman's  admirable  analysis 
of  the  whole  subject,  2  Jarman's  Powell,  77,  78,  et  seq. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  73 

with  the  law.'  They  said  that  must  do  ;  so  I  begged  they  would  go 
down  stairs  and  let  me  get  up  as  fast  as  I  could.  Well,  I  did  state 
the  facts,  and  the  cause  went  on  for  fifteen  days.  It  found  me  poor 
enough,  but  I  began  to  be  rich  before  it  was  done  :  they  left  me  fifty 
guineas  at  the  beginning  ;  then  there  were  ten  guineas  every  day, 
and  five  guineas  every  evening  for  a  consultation  —  more  money 
then  I  could  count.  But,  better  still,  the  length  of  the  cause  gave 
me  time  to  make  myself  "  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  law." 
The  remainder  of  the  story  is  more  circumstantially  related  by  Mr. 
Farrer,  from  Lord  Eldon's  own  narrative  to  him,  communicated  in 
the  course  of  the  conversation  before  referred  to. 

"  On  the  morning  on  which  the  counsel  for  the  petitioner  was  to 
reply,  Hardinge  came  into  the  committee  room,  meaning  to  reply. 
saw  the  members  of  the  committee  put  their  heads  together,  and 
then  one  of  them  said,  <  Mr.  Hardinge,  Mr.  Scott  opened  this  case, 
and  has  attended  it  throughout,  and  the  committee  think,  that,  if  he 
likes  to  reply,  he  ought  to  do  so.    Mr.  Scott,  would  you  like  to  reply  ?' 
_  I  answered  '  that  I  would  do  my  best.'     I  began  my  speech  with  a 
very  bad  joke.     You  must  know  that  the  leading  counsel  on  the  other 
side,  Douglas,  afterwards  Lord  Glenbervie,  had  made  one  of  the 
longest  speeches  ever  known  before  a  committee,  and  had  argued 
that  the  borough  of  Clitheroe  was  not  a  borough  by  prescription,  for 
it  had  its  origin  within  the  memory  of  man.     I  began  by  saying,    I 
will  prove  to  the  committee  by  the  best  evidence,  that  the  borough  o 
Clitheroe  is  a  borough  by  prescription  ;  that  it  had  its  origin  before 
the  memory  of  man.    My  learned  friend  will  admit  the  commencemen 
of  this  borough  was  before  the  commencement  of  his  speech  :  but 
the  commencement  of  his  speech  is  beyond  the  memory  of  man  : 
therefore  the  borough  of  Clitheroe  must  have  commenced  before  1 
memory  of  man.'     We  were  beaten  in  the  committee  by  one  vote. 
After  this  speech,  Mansfield,  afterwards  Sir  James  Mansfield,  came 
up  to  me  in  Westminster  Hall,  and  said  he  heard  that  I  was  going 
to  leave  London,  but  strongly  advised  me  to  remain  in  London. 
told  him  that  I  could  not,  that  I  had  taken  a  house  in  Newcastle, 
that  I  had  an  increasing  family,  in  short,  that  I  was  compelled 
London.     Afterwards  Wilson  came  to  me  and  pressed  me 
same   manner  to   remain   in  London,  adding  what  was  very  kind, 
'that  he  would  insure  me  400/.  the  next  year.'     1  gave  him  t 
same  answer  as  I  had  given  Mansfield.     However,  I  did  remain  i 
London,  and  lived  to  make  Mansfield  chief  justice  of  the  Commo 
Pleas  ™d   Wilson  a  puisne   judge.*-'!  can't   understand,    i 
Mr.  Farrer  to  Lord  Eldon,  '  why  Hardinge  refused  *  °P?f  „ 
tion  ;  do  you  know  ?'  —  '  Because  he  had  not  read  his  bnef    suppose, 

8  V  oyn  'the  7th  of  April,  the  elder  brother  William,  afterwards 


•  NOTE  BT  ME.  FAHREB.-Lord  Eldon  latterly  told  this  as  it  is  here  stated^  TJj 
fact  is,  that  Wilson  was  made  a  puisne  judge  of  the  C  ™£f™£  ing  nu;/ow,  Lord 
in  1793.  Lord  Eldon,  I  have  been  informed,  recommw  »«  » 

Chancellor,  and  in  that  way  contributed  to  his  promotion,  and  pro 
brance  of  Wilson's  kindness. 


74  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Lord  Stowell,  was  married  to  Anna  Maria,  daughter  and  co-heiress 
of  John  Bagnall,  Esq.,  of  Earley  Court,  in  Berkshire. 

The  two  well-employed  opportunities  of  Ackroyd  v.  Smithson  and 
the  Clitheroe  petition  had  left  the  success  of  Mr.  Scott  a  matter  no 
longer  doubtful.  At  the  present  day,  from  the  great  competition  of 
very  learned  and  very  able  practitioners,  a  few  occasional  opportuni- 
ties do  little,  however  they  be  improved.  Among  the  more  influen- 
tial class  of  attorneys  and  solicitors,  it  has  become  usual  to  bring  up 
a  son  or  other  near  relation  to  the  bar,  who,  if  his  industry  and 
ability  be  such  as  can  at  all  justify  his  friends  in  employing  him, 
absorbs  all  the  business  which  they  and  their  connection  can  bestow : 
and  the  number  of  barristers,  thus  powerfully  supported,  is  now  so 
great,  that  few  men  lacking  such  an  advantage  can  secure  a  hold 
upon  business.  But  at  the  time  when  Mr.  Scott  began  his  pro- 
fessional life,  the  usage  had  not  grown  up  of  coming  into  the  field 
with  a  "following"  already  secured.  Education  being  less  general, 
fewer  competitors  attempted  the  bar :  and  even  among  the  educated 
classes,  a  large  proportion  of  adventurous  men  devoted  themselves 
to  naval  and  military  pursuits,  which  have  now  been  deprived  of 
their  attraction  by  a  peace  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  In 
those  days,  therefore,  it  might  well  happen,  as  with  Mr.  Scott  it 
actually  did,  that  a  couple  of  good  opportunities,  ably  used,  would 
make  the  fortune  of  an  assiduous  barrister  in  London. 

The  same  causes  which  then  rendered  opportunity  productive  in 
the  metropolis,  had  their  operation  also  on  the  business  of  the 
circuits.  The  following  story  is  current  at  the  bar,  of  Mr.  Scott's 
first  success  on  the  circuit  in  a  civil  action.  The  plaintiff  was  a 
Mrs.  Fermor,  who  sought  damages  against  the  defendant,  an  elderly 
maiden  lady,  named  Sanstern,  for  an  assault  committed  at  a  whist-table. 
Mr.  Scott  was  junior  counsel  for  the  plaintiff;  and  when  the  cause 
was  called  on,  his  leader  was  absent  in  the  crown  court,  conducting 
a  government  prosecution.  Mr.  Scott  requested  that  his  cause  might 
be  postponed  till  his  leader  should  be  at  liberty;  but  the  judge 
refusing,  there  was  no  help,  and  Mr.  Scott  addressed  the  jury  for  Mrs. 
Fermor,  and  called  his  witnesses.  It  was  proved  that  at  the  whist- 
table  some  angry  words  arose  between  the  ladies,  which  at  length 
kindled  to  such  heat,  that  Mrs.  Sanstern  was  impelled  to  throw  her 
cards  at  the  head  of  Mrs.  Fermor,  who  (probably  in  dodging  to  avoid 
these  missiles)  fell  or  slipped  from  her  chair  to  the  ground.  Upon 
this  evidence,  the  defendant's  counsel  objected  that  the  case  had 
not  been  proved  as  alleged ;  for  that  the  declaration  stated  the 
defendant  to  have  committed  the  assault  with  her  hand,  whereas  the 
evidence  proved  it  to  have  been  committed  with  the  cards.  Mr. 
Scott,  however,  insisted  that  the  facts  were  substantially  proved 
according  to  the  averment  in  the  declaration,  of  an  assault  committed 
with  the  hand :  for  that  in  the  common  parlance  of  the  card-table, 
the  hand  means  the  hand  of  cards;  and  thus  that  Miss  Sanstern, 
having  thrown  her  cards  in  Mrs.  Fermor's  face,  had  clearly  assaulted 
Mrs.  Fermor  with  her  hand.  The  court  laughed:  the  jury,  much 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  75 

diverted,  found  the  plaintiff's  allegations  sufficiently  proved  •  and 
the  young  counsel  had  the  frolic  and  fame  of  a  verdict  in  his  favour 
It  has  been  supposed  that  to  this  verdict  he  was  indebted  for  the  large 
practice  which  he  soon  afterwards  obtained  on  the  northern  circuit  • 
but  the  three  following  instances  show  that  no  single  exploit  was  the' 
cause  of  his  extensive  success.  For  the  first  of  them,  the  writer  of 
this  memoir  is  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Spence,  Q.  C.  who 
gives  it  in  these  words  : — 

I  was  about  to  join  the  northern  circuit  in  1815,  when  the  late 
Mr.  Bell  took  me  to  one  of  Lord  Eldon's  levees.  On  my  first  intro- 
duction, Lord  Eldon  accosted  me  thus :  <  So  you  are  going  to  join  my 
old  circuit;  you  will,  perhaps,  be  surprised  to  hear  that  I  was  first 
brought  into  notice  on  that  circuit  by  breaking  the  Ten  Command- 
ments.' I  should  have  supposed  him  to  mean  that  he  had  read  his 
briefs  on  Sunday ;  but  there  was  that  good-humoured  gleam  of  the  eye 
which  every  one  who  recollects  him  will  understand,  and  which  puz- 
zled me.  He  continued,  <  I'll  tell  you  how  it  was.  I  was  counsel  in  a 
cause,  the  fate  of  which  depended  on  our  being  able  to  make  out  who 
was  the  founder  of  an  ancient  chapel  in  the  neighbourhood.  I  went 
to  view  it.  There  was  nothing  to  be  observed  which  gave  any  indi- 
cation of  its  date  or  history :  however,  I  observed  that  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments were  written  on  some  old  plaster  which,  from  its  position, 
I  conjectured  might  cover  an  arch.  Acting  on  this,  I  bribed  the  clerk 
with  five  shillings  to  allow  me  to  chip  away  a  part  of  the  plaster ;  and 
after  two  or  three  attempts,  I  found  the  key-stone  of  an  arch,  on  which 
were  engraved  the  arms  of  an  ancestor  of  one  of  the  parties.  This 
evidence  decided  the  cause,  and  I  ever  afterwards  had  reason  to 
remember,  with  some  satisfaction,  my  having,  on  that  occasion, 
broken  the  Commandments.'  " 

Mr.  Scott's  first  success  at  Durham  was  in  the  case  of  Adair  v. 
Swinburne.  The  circumstances  by  which  the  lead  of  this  cause  was 
devolved  upon  him  are  recorded  by  Mr.  Farrer  from  his  own  narra- 
tion, which  commenced  thus: — 

"An  issue  had  been  directed  out  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer  to  be 
tried  at  Durham,  upon  a  question  of  very  great  importance  to  coal 
owners.     We  had  a  consultation  at  Durham,  at  which  were  present 
most  of  the  leaders  of  the  northern  circuit,  Jack  Lee,  Tom  Davenport, 
and  others.     After  we  had  had  a  good  deal  of  discussion,  Lee  said, 
'  Scott,  you  must  lead  this  to-morrow' — and,  the  other  counsel  assent- 
ing, I  agreed  to  do  so. — '  But  why,  Lord  Eldon,  did  they  put  you  to 
lead?' — '  Oh!  you  must  know  I  had  been  counsel  in  all  the  proceed- 
ings in  the  Exchequer ;  besides,  perhaps,  they  thought  that  I  had  an 
advantage  over  them  in  having  been  born  and  bred  in  a  coal  country. 
Well,  they  insisted  upon  my  leading,  and  I  said  I  would  do  my  best. 
— Next  morning  we  went  into  court.     We  had  a  special  jury  of  gen- 
tlemen of  the  county,  most  intelligent  men,  well  acquainted  with  coal 
and  collieries.     Buller,  who  was  trying  the  issue,  when  I  rose  to  reply 
after  the  defendant's  case  was  closed,  said  to  me, '  Mr.  Scott,  you  are 
not  going  to  waste  the  time  of  the  court  and  of  the  jury  by  replying !' 


76  LIFE  OF  LORD 

— The  sequel  of  the  story  is  more  fully  detailed  in  Mrs.  Forster's 
report  of  Lord  Eldon's  narrative  to  her. — "  Said  Mr.  Justice  Buller, 
*  You  have  not  a  leg  to  stand  upon.' — Now  this  was  very  awkward — 
a  young  man,  and  the  judge  speaking  so  decidedly. — However,  I  said, 
1  My  lord,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred,  I  would  sit  down, 
upon  hearing  the  judge  so  express  himself;  but  so  persuaded  am  I 
that  I  have  the  right  on  my  side,  that  I  must  entreat  your  lordship  to 
allow  me  to  reply,  and  I  must  also  express  my  expectation  of  gaining 
the  verdict.'  Well,  I  did  reply,  and  the  jury — it  was  a  special  jury, 
Charles  Brandling  was  foreman — retired,  and  after  consulting  six  or 
eight  hours,  they  returned,  and  actually  gave  the  verdict  in  my  favour. 

"  When  I  went  to  the  ball  that  evening,  I  was  received  with  open 
arms  by  every  one.  Oh !  my  fame  was  established  ;  I  really  think 
I  might  have  married  half  the  pretty  girls  in  the  room  that  night. 
Never  was  man  so  courted.  It  certainly  was  very  flattering  to  be  so 
received  ;  but  yet  it  was  painful,  too,  to  mark  the  contrast  from  the 
year  before : — it  certainly  was  not  my  fault  that  I  had  no  cause  to  lead 
the  year  before. 

"  But  I  must  not  omit  to  tell  you  the  conclusion.  I  went  to  Carlisle, 
and  there  Buller  sent  for  me,  and  told  me  he  had  been  thinking  over 
that  case  on  his  way  from  Newcastle,  and  he  had  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  Ae  was  entirely  wrong,  and  I  was  right :  therefore  he  had 
sent  for  me  to  tell  me  this,  and  to  express  his  regret  for  having  stopped, 
or  rather  attempted  to  stop  me  in  court.  This  was  very  handsome  in 
him,  but  it  certainly  had  been  a  very  awkward  predicament  for  a 
young  man.  This  cause  raised  me  aloft." 

The  Anecdote  Book  gives  the  following  account  of  his  first  intro- 
duction to  business  at  Carlisle — "  I  was  at  the  assizes  for  Cumberland 
in  seven  successive  years  before  I  had  a  brief.  It  happened  that  my 
old  friend  Mr.  Lee,  commonly  called  Jack  Lee,  was  absent  in  the 
criminal  court,  when  a  cause  was  called  on  in  the  civil  court,  and  some 
attorney,  being,  by  that  absence,  deprived  of  his  retained  counsel,  was 
obliged  to  procure  another,  and  he  gave  me  a  guinea,  with  a  scrap  of 
paper  as  a  brief,  to  defend  an  old  woman  in  an  action  for  an  assault 
brought  against  her  by  another  old  woman.  The  plaintiff  had  been 
reposing  in  an  arm-chair,  when,  some  words  arising  between  her  and 
my  client,  the  latter  took  hold  of  the  legs  of  the  chair,  and,  in  fact, 
threw  the  plaintiff  head  and  heels  over  the  top  of  the  chair.  This 
sort  of  assault,  of  course,  admitted  of  easy  proof,  and  a  servant  maid 
of  the  plaintiff's  proved  the  case.  I  then  offered  in  court  that  a 
chair  should  be  brought  in,  and  that  my  old  female  client  should 
place  herself  in  it,  and  that  the  lady  (the  plaintiff)  should  overset  the 
chair  and  my  old  woman,  as  she  had  been  upset  herself.  Upon 
the  plaintiff's  attorney  refusing  this  compromise,  the  witness  (the 
servant  maid)  said,  that  her  mistress  (the  plaintiff)  was  always  will- 
ing to  make  up  the  matter,  but  that  her  attorney  would  never  allow 
her  to  do  so,  and  that  her  mistress  thought  she  must  do  as  her  attor- 
ney bid  her  do,  and  had  no  will  of  her  own.  '  So  then,'  observed  I  to 
the  jury,  knowing  that  her  attorney's  name  was  Hobson,  l  this  good 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON. 


77 


lady  has  had  nothing  for  it  but  "  Hobson's  choice."  And  pray  then 
gentlemen,'  I  added,  <  as  the  good  woman  wants  no  damages  and  the 
cause  is  Hobson's,  give  him  but  a  penny  at  most  if  you  please  '  This 
penny  the  jury  gave.  When  I  record  that  in  the  same  assizes  I 
received  seventy  guineas  for  this  joke,  for  briefs  came  in  rapidly  I 
record  a  fact  which  proves  that  a  lawyer  may  begin  to  acquire  wealth 
by  a  little  pleasantry,  who  might  long  wait  before  professional  know- 
ledge  introduced  him  into  notice  and  business." 

As  he  had  been  seven  years  on  the  circuit,  this  lucky  cause  may 
probably  have  been  heard  about  the  summer  of  1782.  To  nearly  the 
same  period  may  be  referred  a  practical  joke,  related  in  the  Anecdote 
Book,  as  follows: — 

"  At  an  assizes  at  Lancaster,  we  found  Dr.  Johnson's  friend,  Jemmy 
Boswell,  lying  upon  the  pavement,— inebriated.  We  subscribed  at 
supper  a  guinea  for  him  and  half  a  crown  for  his  clerk,  and  sent  him, 
when  he  waked  next  morning,  a  brief  with  instructions  to  move,  for 
what  we  denominated  the  writ  of  '  Quare  adhsesit  pavimento,'  with 
observations,  duly  calculated  to  induce  him  to  think  that  it  required 
great  learning  to  explain  the  necessity  of  granting  it  to  the  judge,  be- 
fore whom  he  was  to  move.  Boswell  sent  all  round  the  town  to  a'ttor- 
neys  for  books,  that  might  enable  him  to  distinguish  himself— but  in 
vain.  He  moved,  however,  for  theVrit,  making  the  best  use  he  could 
of  the  observations  in  the  brief.  The  judge  was  perfectly  astonished 
and  the  audience  amazed.  The  judge  said,  '  I  never  heard  of  such 
a  writ — what  can  it  be  that  adheres  pavimento  ?  Are  any  of  you,  gen- 
tlemen at  the  bar,  able  to  explain  this?'  The  bar  laughed.  At  last 
one  of  them  said, «  My  lord,  Mr.  Boswell  last  night  adhasit  pavimento. 
There  was  no  moving  him  for  some  time.  At  last  he  was  carried  to 
bed,  and  he  has  been  dreaming  about  himself  and  the  pavement.'  " 

Lord  Eldon,  talking  to  Mrs.  Forster  in  after  life,  about  the  memo- 
rabilia of  the  northern  circuit,  said,  "  We  had  an  amusing  case  at 
York.     Stakes  for  a  race  had  been  deposited  in  the  hands  of  one  party, 
to  be  paid  to  the  owner  of  the  horse  that  won ;  but  then  there  was  a 
condition  that  each  horse  was  to  be  ridden  by  a  gentleman;  and  it  was 
disputed  whether  the  horse  that  did  win  had  been  ridden  by  a  gentle- 
man, or  not.     This  action  was  to  ascertain  this  point.     Now  the  holder 
of  the  stakes  stated,  that  he  was  anxious  to  get  the  money  paid,  pro- 
vided he  was  sure  that  he  would  not  be  called  upon  to  pay  it  over 
again.     The  judge  told  him  he  was  quite  right  to  be  careful,  and  it 
must  be  ascertained  whether  the  person  was  a  gentleman  or  not.    Well, 
we  had  a  great  deal  of  evidence,  and  then  we  came  to  the  summing 
up  of  the  judge,  who  addressed  the  jury  in  these  words: — '  Gentlemen 
of  the  jury,  when  I  see  you  in  that  box,  I  call  you  gentlemen,  for  I 
know  you  are  such :  custom  has  authorized  me  :  and,  from  your  office 
there,  you  are  entitled  to  be  called  gentlemen.     But  out  of  that  box, 
I  do  not  know  what  may  be  deemed  the  requisites  that  constitute  a 
gentleman:  therefore  I  can  give  you  no  direction.'     (A  laugh.)     The 
jury  returned  a  verdict  that  he  was  not  a  gentleman.     Well,  the  next 
morning  he  challenged  both  Law  and  me,  who  were  conducting  the 


78  LIFE  OF  LORD 

cause  against  him,  for  saying  that  he  was  no  gentleman.  We  sent 
him  this  answer,  that  we  could  not  think  of  fighting  one  who  was 
pronounced,  by  a  solemn  verdict  of  twelve  of  his  countrymen,  to  be 
no  gentleman." 

Another  northern  circuit  story  of  those  days  was  told  by  Lord  El- 
don  to  Mrs.  Forster,  about  a  party  at  the  house  of  a  certain  lawyer 
Fawcett,  who  gave  a  dinner  every  year  to  the  counsel.  "  On  one 
occasion,"  related  Lord  Eldon,  "I  heard  Lee  say,  'I  cannot  leave 
Fawcett's  wine :  mind,  Davenport,  you  will  go  home  immediately 
after  dinner,  to  read  the  brief  in  that  cause  that  we  have  to  conduct 
to-morrow.' — 'Not  I,'  said  Davenport;  'leave  my  dinner  and  my 
wine  to  read  a  brief!  No,  no,  Lee — that  won't  do.' — '  Then,'  said 
Lee,  '  what  is  to  be  done  ?  who  else  is  employed  ?' — Davenport:  '  Oh, 
young  Scott.' — Lee  :  '  Oh  !  he  must  go.  Mr.  Scott,  you  must  go  home 
immediately,  and  make  yourself  acquainted  with  that  cause  before  our 
consultation  this  evening.'  This  was  very  hard  upon  me;  but  I  did 
go,  and  there  was  an  attorney  from  Cumberland,  and  one  from  North- 
umberland, and  I  do  not  know  how  many  other  persons.  Pretty  late, 
in  came  Jack  Lee  as  drunk  as  he  could  be.  '  I  cannot  consult  to- 
night,— I  must  go  to  bed,'  he  exclaimed,  and  away  he  went.  Then 
came  Sir  Thomas  Davenport :  '  We  cannot  have  a  consultation  to- 
night, Mr.  Wordsworth,'  (Wordsworth,  I  think,  was  the  name;  it  was 
a  Cumberland  name,)  shouted  Davenport;  '  don't  you  see  how  drunk 
Mr.  Scott  ist  it  is  impossible  to  consult.'  Poor  me,  who  had  scarce 
had  any  dinner,  and  lost  all  my  wine — /  was  so  drunk  that  /  could 
not  consult !  Well,  a  verdict  was  given  against  us,  and  it  was  all 
owing  to  lawyer  Fawcett's  dinner.  We  moved  for  a  new  trial,  and 
I  must  say,  for  the  honour  of  the  bar,  that  those  two  gentlemen,  Jack 
Lee  and  Sir  Thomas  Davenport,  paid  all  the  expenses  between  them 
of  the  first  trial.  It  is  the  only  instance  I  ever  knew:  but  they  did. 
We  moved  for  a  new  trial  (on  the  ground,  I  suppose,  of  the  counsel 
not  being  in  their  senses),  and  it  was  granted.  When  it  came  on,  the 
following  year,  the  judge  rose  and  said,  '  Gentlemen,  did  any  of  you 
dine  with  lawyer  Fawcett  yesterday?  for,  if  you  did,  I  will  not  hear 
this  cause  till  next  year.'  There  was  great  laughter.  We  gained  the 
cause  that  time." 

The  following  memorandum  in  the  Anecdote  Book,  touching  a  couple 
of  roguish  attorneys,  may  be  referred  to  this  part  of  Mr.  Scott's  life  : — 

"  There  were,"  says  he,  "  when  I  was  not  much  advanced  in  pro- 
fessional business,  two  attorneys,  father  and  son,  of  the  name  of  Prid- 
dle.  In  point  of  character,  they  stood  low.  Old  Lord  Mansfield  used 
to  say  to  the  father,  '  Don't  read  your  affidavit,  Mr.  Priddle ;  we  give 
the  same  credit  to  what  you  say  as  we  do  to  what  you  swear.'  They 
had  a  cause,  father  against  son.  The  father  called  to  leave  a  retainer 
with  me  against  the  son,  representing  him  as  the  most  worthless  of 
human  beings.  I  declined  to  accept  it  in  this  family  cause.  Soon 
afterwards  the  son  called  to  retain  me  against  the  father,  representing 
the  old  gentleman  as  the  most  worthless  of  human  beings.  This 
retainer  I  also  declined  to  accept.  The  elder  of  these  persons  had  got 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  7.9 

possession  of  a  house  belonging  to  the  crown.     Macdonald,  attorney- 
General,  had  great  difficulty  in  dispossessing  him  by  proceedings  at 
law,  but  at  last  succeeded ;  and  when  old  Mr.  Chamberlayne    the 
treasury  solicitor,  went,  with  due  authority,  to  demand  possession 
Priddle  said,  « If  you  will  take  the  house,  you  shall  take  all  that's  in 
it.     Poor  Mrs.  Priddle  died  a  day  or  two  ago ;  she  lies  a  corpse  up 
stairs  in  bed,  and  there  I  shall  leave  her.     If  you  will  have  the  house 
you  shall  have  her  also.'     The  treasury  solicitor  took  possession  of 
the  house  and  of  her,  and  Priddle  rejoiced  in  saving  the  expense  of 
burying  his  departed  spouse." 

The  memorable  argument  in  Ackroyd  v.  Smithson  had  fixed  the 
attention  of  Lord  Chancellor  Thurlow  upon  Mr.  Scott,  whom  he  now 
treated  with  great  distinction,  in  private  as  well  as  in  public.  It  has 
been  said,  that,  soon  after  that  argument,  Mr.  Scott  received,  and  de- 
clined, the  offer  of  a  mastership  in  Chancery:  but  when  his  grandson 
asked  him  about  this  in  his  latter  years,  he  said  he  had  no  recollection 
of  it ;  nor  is  it  likely  that  any  man,  not  in  the  greatest  business,  would 
have  rejected  such  an  advancement.  He  was  even  anxious  at  that 
time  to  be  made  a  commissioner  of  bankrupts.  It  has  been  supposed 
that  he  actually  obtained  such  a  nomination  ;  but  this  is  a  mistake,  in- 
duced apparently  by  the  fact  that  there  was,  in  his  early  life,  a  com- 
missioner of  bankrupts  named  John  Scott,  a  member  of  Gray's  Inn. 
Lord  Eldon's  account  of  the  matter  to  Mrs.  Forster  was  this :  "  Thur- 
low became  my  steady  friend,  but  he  showed  it  rather  oddly  in  one 
circumstance.  Sir  Grey  Cooper  had  written  to  him  to  ask  him  to 
give  me  a  commissionership  of  bankrupts,  and  he  promised  he  would. 
Now  you  know  a  hundred  and  sixty  or  seventy  pounds  a  year  would 
have  been  a  great  thing  to  us ;  but  he  never  did.  In  after  life  I  re- 
minded him  of  his  promise,  and  inquired  why  he  had  not  fulfilled  it ; 
and  his  answer  was  curious  : — '  It  would  have  been  your  ruin.  Young 
men  are  very  apt  to  be  content  when  they  get  something  to  live  upon; 
so  when  I  saw  what  you  were  made  of,  I  determined  to  break  my 
promise,  to  make  you  work ;'  and  I  dare  say  he  was  right,  for  there 
is  nothing  does  a  young  lawyer  so  much  good  as  to  be  half  starved : 
it  has  a  fine  effect.  But  it  was  rather  a  curious  instance  of  Lord 
Thurlow's  kindness." 

Mr.  John  Surtees,  Lady  Eldon's  brother,  relates,  from  Lord  Eldon's 
own  account  to  him,  that  Lord  Eldon,  early  in  his  professional  life, 
was  retained  in  some  case  with  Lord  Alvanley  (then  Pepper  Arden), 
who  spoke  with  great  fluency,  but  very  lopsely  and  without  due  pre- 
paration. When  Mr.  Scott  rose  on  the  same  side,  Lord  Thurlow, 
with  his  usual  gravity  of  manner,  said,  "  Mr.  Scott,  I  am  glad  to  find 
that  you  are  engaged  in  this  cause,  for  I  now  stand  some  chance  to 
know  something  of  the  matter." 

As  a  set-off  to  these  compliments,  Lord  Eldon  used  to  relate  of 
himself,  that,  on  some  occasion,  at  the  close  of  his  address,  Lord  Thur- 
low said  to  him,  "I  was  with  you,  Mr.  Scott — till  I  heard  your  argu- 
ment." 

The  following  story,  related  in  the  Observer  newspaper,  of  the  21st 


80  LIFE  OF  LORD 

of  January,  1838,  a  few  days  after  Lord  Eldon's  death,  belongs  to 
this  period  of  his  biography.  The  authority  for  it  is  not  cited,  but  it 
is  circumstantially  told,  and  corresponds  with  his  known  benevolence. 

"  When  the  late  Lord  Eldon  was  plain  Mr.  Scott,  but  a  rising  mem- 
ber of  the  bar,  the  hair-dresser  who  attended  him  took  an  opportunity 
of  mentioning  to  him,  that  an  acquaintance  of  his  was  entitled  to  con- 
siderable property  if  he  had  his  right.  Mr.  Scott  listened  to  the  state- 
ment, and  felt  interested  in  it.  With  a  goodness  of  heart  which  did 
him  honour,  he  told  his  informant  to  go  to  Mr.  Giles  Bleasdale,  the 
predecessor  of  the  highly  respectable  firm  of  Holme,  Frampton  and 
Loftus,  and  state  the  particulars  to  that  gentleman.  The  worthy  ton- 
sor  did  so;  Mr.  Bleasdale  reduced  the  facts  to  writing;  and,  by  the 
advice  of  Mr.  Scott,  proceedings  were  commenced  to  recover  the 
property  in  question.  Mr.  Scott,  however,  told  Mr.  Bleasdale  that, 
although  he  should  not  expect  any  fees  during  the  progress  of  the 
cause,  he  wished  an  accurate  account  to  be  kept  of  the  amount  to 
which  he  would  be  entitled  at  the  termination  of  the  suit.  Mr.  Scott 
was  ultimately  successful  for  his  client,  and,  on  the  winding  up  of  the 
business,  Mr.  Bleasdale  waited  upon  him  with  a  well-filled  purse  or 
canvass  bag,  containing  the  whole  of  his  fees  in  gold.  Mr.  Scott 
smiled  with  evident  satisfaction,  but,  recollecting  himself,  he  sent  for 
the  hair-dresser  who  had  first  introduced  the  subject  to  him.  The 
hair-dresser,  making  his  appearance,  was  congratulated  on  the  suc- 
cess of  his  friend  by  Mr.  Scott,  who  then  added,  l  As  you  have  your- 
self had  a  good  deal  of  trouble  in  the  affair,  take  that  purse ;'  and 
handed  over  to  the  astonished  perruquier  the  whole  sum  brought  by 
Mr.  Bleasdale  as  his  fees." 

The  number  of  opinions  given  by  Mr.  Scott  when  at  the  bar,  upon 
cases  laid  before  him  for  advice,  is  known  to  have  borne  a  small  pro- 
portion to  the  extent  of  his  other  practice.  The  reasons  of  this  are 
explained  in  the  following  extract  from  the  Anecdote  Book : — "  When 
I  got  into  considerable  business  at  the  bar,  I  was  much  resorted  to 
by  professional  persons,  laying  cases  before  me  for  my  opinions. 
Lord  Kenyon,  when  at  the  bar,  made,  one  year  (of  which  he  showed 
me  evidence),  by  opinions  only,  about  three  thousand  pounds — at 
that  time,  according  to  the  rate  of  fees  given  to  counsel,  a  very  large 
sum.  It  was,  however,  his  rule  to  consider  himself  as  only  required 
to  read  the  case,  as  it  was  stated  to  him,  and  to  give  such  opinion  as 
his  general  knowledge  enabled  him  to  give  upon  reading  it,  without 
looking  for  further  information  as  to  matter  of  law,  by  looking  into 
books.  When  he  afterwards  became  a  judge  in  equity,  the  rule  by 
which  he  governed  himself,  as  to  the  facts  of  any  case,  was  to  con- 
sider himself  as  not  bound  to  seek  for  further  information  as  to  those 
facts  than  as  the  diligence  of  counsel  had  stated  them  ;  and  his  judg- 
ment was  usually  given  without  assisting  himself  by  more  than  his 
general  knowledge  of  law  enabled  him  to  aid  himself  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  counsel's  reply.  It  is  due  to  the  very  great  law-learning 
of  Mr.  Kenyon,  afterwards  Lord  Kenyon,  to  record,  that  no  lawyer, 
in  my  days,  could,  in  this  way  of  proceeding,  do  so  much  justice  to 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON. 


81 


parties  consulting  him,  or  before  him  for  judgment,  as  he  could  —My 
busmess  as  to  giving  opinions  was  of  very  short  duration      I  could 
not  so  far  trust  my  knowledge  of  law  as  to  believe  that  I  could  nor 
confirm  it  or  improve  it  by  looking  into  books  and  authorities,  after  I 
had  read  the  stated  case.  This  led  necessarily  to  delay,  and  sometimes 
o  a  correction  of  that  opinion  which  I  at  first  entertained,  and  which 
the  solicitor  consulting  me  wished  to  obtain  perhaps.  He  then  ceased 
as  to  such  matters,  to  be  a  client  of  mine.     But  this  sort  of  employ- 
ment forsook  me  in  a  greater  degree,  because,  after  my  experience 
had  taught  me  that  cases  upon  which  opinions  had  been  given  (and 
upon  the  encouragement  contained  in  those  opinions,  suits  had  been 
instituted)  differed  materially  and  essentially  in  circumstances  from 
what  were  proved  to  be  the  real  cases  when  the  causes  in  such  suits 
were  heard,  and  that  experience  convinced  me  that  a  great  many 
attorneys,  who  had  stated  cases,  could  not  but  know  that  those  were 
material  and  essential  circumstances,  which,  being  within  their  know- 
ledge, ought  to  have  been,  but  which  were  not,  stated  in  the  cases, 
when  laid  before  counsel,  I  got  into  a  habit  prejudicial  to  myself 
which  I  know,  in  some  instances,  to  have  been  very  useful  to  others^ 
of  considering  the  probability  or  improbability  of  the  correctness  and 
sufficiency  of  the  statement  in  cases  laid  before  me,  stating,  in  my 
opinions,  the  vast  difference  it  would  make  in  the  judgment  if  a  suit 
was  instituted,  if  facts  were  either  suppressed  or  matters  stated  which 
were  not  facts,  or,  if  facts,  so  far  as  the  statement  went,  were  not  the 
whole  truth  of  the  case ;  and  then  pointing  out  in  the  opinion  what  I 
thought  possible,  or  conjectured,  to  be  matters,  which  might  form 
part  of  the  case  though  not  at  all  stated,  and  circumstances  which 
might  qualify  the  effect  of  the  facts,  which  might  be  only  partially 
stated,  leaving  it  to  the  party  consulting  me  to  make  any  representa- 
tion as  to  such  things  as  he  might  think  proper,  or  to  act  upon  an 
opinion  which  had  all  such  qualifications  in  the  body  of  it.     Among 
solicitors   and  attorneys  there  were  many  very  worthy  men ;  there 
were  others  certainly  not  such ;  as  there  are  in  all  other  classes  of 
men,  good  and  bad.     One  of  the  worthiest  I  have  known  said,  they 
did  not  want  opinions  that  had  so  many  '  ifs'  in  them,  that  such  would 
not  do  for  them,  that  they  spoilt  business,  and  certainly  they,  aided 
by  a  disinclination  which  I  had  to  be  engaged  in  a  branch  of  the  pro- 
fession of  so  much  responsibility,  and  with  reference  to  which  I  thought 
so  much  care   and  trouble  absolutely  necessary,  entirely  spoilt  my 
opinion  business. — No  contemporary  of  Mr.  Kenyon  gave  so  many 
opinions  as  he  did.     The  gentleman  who  appeared  to  stand  next  as  to 
the  number,  was  Mr.  Dunning ;  but  many  of  his  opinions  were  given 
by  Mr.  J.  Wilson,  afterwards  Mr.  Justice  Wilson,  though  signed  by 
Mr.   Dunning.     The   handwriting  of  those  two  gentlemen  was  so 
much  alike  that  they  could  hardly  be  distinguished ;  and  Mr.  Wil- 
son's opinions  were  very  valuable." 

The  year  1782  was  that  of  Lord  Rodney's  great  victory  over  the 
French  fleet :  an  achievement  in  which  Sir  Samuel  (afterwards  Vis- 
count) Hood  had  an  important  share.     Lord  Eldon,  who,  at  a  later 
VOL.  i.-MJ 


82  LIFE  OF  LORD 

period,  became  acquainted  with  Lord  Hood,  records,  among  his  anec- 
dotes, a  testimonial  from  this  commander  which  is  important  to  Lord 
Rodney's  fame. 

"  Lord  Rodney,  though  he  achieved  mighty  things,  was  not  consi- 
dered by  the  country  as  having  done  as  much  as  he  ought  in  his  vic- 
tory over  the  French,  I  think,  in  his  last  engagement.  It  was  in  the 
engagement  in  which  old  Lord  Hood  was  either  second  or  very  high 
in  command.  I  mentioned  to  him  that  the  country  thought  of  that 
business  as  above  stated.  His  answer  was,  '  I  think  more  might  have 
been  done,  but  if  I  had  commanded,  I  don't  think  that  I  should  have 
ventured  to  have  attempted  more.'  " 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  83 


CHAPTER  VII. 
1783. 

Coalition  ministry. — Anecdote  of  Thurlow.— Silk  gown.— Mr.  John  Scott's  vindication 
of  his  seniority. — Anecdote  of  Lord  Collingwood. — Canvass  of  Weobly:  speech: 
Lord  Surry:  Miss  Bridge:  election  of  Mr.  John  Scott.— Dangerous  illness  of,  and 
letters  from,  his  brother  William. — Encouraging  letter  from  Mr.  Lee  to  Mr.  John 

Scott.  —  Commencement  of  parliamentary  session. —  Anecdote  of  Lord  North. 

Mr.  John  Scott's  maiden  speech. — His  speech  on  Mr.  Fox's  India  bill. — Fall  of  the 
coalition  ministry. — New  administration  under  Mr.  Pitt. 

THE  administration  of  Lord  Shelburne,  which  had  succeeded  that  of 
Lord  Rockingham,  gave  way,  in  the  spring  of  1783,  to  the  coalition 
ministry  of  Lord  North  and  Mr.  Fox,  the  nominal  head  of  which  was 
the  Duke  of  Portland.  Among  the  members  of  the  cabinet  who  then 
retired,  was  Lord  Thurlow,  of  whose  conduct,  on  that  occasion,  the 
following  particulars  were  related  by  Lord  Eldon  to  his  brother-in- 
law,  Mr.  John  Surtees  : — 

"  Mr.  Fox,  much  to  Lord  Thurlow's  surprise,  called  at  his  house, 
and  was  shown  into  his  drawing-room.  Lord  Thurlow,  immediately 
that  Mr.  Fox's  visit  was  announced,  determined  to  receive  him,  (ob- 
serving, when  he  narrated  the  matter,  that  he  did  not  wish  that  Mr. 
Fox  should  suppose  him  afraid  to  meet  any  one,)  and  an  interview 
took  place.  Lord  Thurlo\v,  on  being  informed  by  Mr.  Fox  that  he 
and  his  party  wished  the  co-operation  of  his  lordship  as  chancellor 
in  the  administration  they  wished  to  form,  said,  'Mr.  Fox,  no  man 
can  deny  that  either  you  or  Mr.  Pitt  are,  beyond  any  two  men  that 
can  be  named,  fit,  from  character  and  talents,  to  be  at  the  head  of  any 
administration  ;  but,  as  Mr.  Pitt  is  very  acceptable  to  the  king,  and  is, 
in  an  extraordinary  degree,  popular  in  the  country,  I  have  connected 
myself  with  him.' ' 

On  Lord  Thurlow's  refusal,  the  great  seal  was  put  in  commission. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  Lords  commissioners  (namely,  Lord 
Loughborough,  then  chief  justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  Mr.  Justice 
Ashhurst,  and  Mr.  Baron  Hotham)  were  authorized,  by  the  new 
government,  to  call  within  the  bar  a  few  of  the  most  eminent  among 
the  junior  counsel:  and  Mr.  Scott  received  a  message  from  the  Duke 
of  Portland,  through  the  Lords  commissioners,  offering  to  include  him 
in  this  promotion.  Mr.  Scott,  with  his  habitual  prudence,  took  time 
to  deliberate ;  and  what  followed  has  thus  been  related  by  himself  in 
the  Anecdote  Book,  and  in  his  conversations  with  Mrs.  Forster  and 
Mr.  Farrer: 

"  After  some  hesitation,  I  communicated  my  intention  of  accepting 
the  offer,  answering  that  I  should  feel  honoured  and  gratified  in  doing 


84  LIFE  OF  LORD 

so.  Now  this  was  on  the  Wednesday :  and  on  Thursday  I  found 
that  Erskine  and  Pigott,  both  of  them  my  juniors,  were  also  to  have 
silk  gowns,  and  that  they  were  to  be  sworn  in  on  the  Friday,  whilst 
Saturday  was  appointed  for  me  to  be  sworn  in ;  so  I  immediately 
wrote  to  say,  that  though  I  had  felt  highly  honoured  in  being  offered  a 
silk  gown,  and  gratefully  accepted  it,  yet  as  I  found  Mr.  Erskine  and 
Mr.  Pigott,  my  juniors  at  the  bar,  were  to  be  put  over  me,  by  being  - 
sworn  in  the  day  previous  to  myself,  I  must  beg  leave  to  retract  my 
acceptance,  as  I  could  not  consent  to  accept  promotion  accompanied 
by  any  waiver  of  my  professional  rank  :  and  this  letter  I  sent.  I  was 
called  before  the  Lords  commissioners,  who  took  great  pains  to  induce 
me  to  alter  my  purpose.  One  of  them  said  Mr.  Pigott  was  junior  at 
the  bar  to  Mr.  Erskine,  and  yet  he  had  consented  to  let  Mr.  Erskine 
take  precedence  of  him.  I  answered,  '  Mr.  Pigott  is  the  best  judge 
for  himself :  I  cannot  consent  to  give  way  either  to  Mr.  Erskine  or 
Mr.  Pigott.'  Another  said,  'Mr.  Scott,  you  are  too  proud.'' — 'My 
lord,  with  all  respect  I  state  it  is  not  pride :  I  cannot  accept  the  gown 
upon  these  terms.'  After  much  difficulty,  and  particularly  as  the 
patents  of  Erskine  and  Pigott  had  passed  the  seal,  the  matter  seems 
to  have  been  arranged  ;  for,  on  the  Saturday,  I  received  a  patent  ap- 
pointing me  to  be  next  in  rank  to  Peckham,  and  placing  Erskine  and 
Pigott  below  me,  though,  in  fact,  both  of  them  had  been  sworn  in  the 
day  before  me;  and  that  patent  I  have  to  this  day." 

Lord  Eldon,  referring,  in  his  Anecdote  Book,  to  the  course  he  took 
in  the  matter  of  this  promotion,  says,  that  the  transaction  made  some 
noise  at  the  time :  and  expresses  his  belief  that  it  had  a  very  consider- 
able effect  and  influence  in  producing  the  subsequent  successes  of  his 
professional  life.  "Did  you  think,"  said  Mr.  Farrer  to  him,  "that 
it  was  so  important  to  insist  upon  retaining  your  rank?" — "It  was 
every  thing,"  he  replied,  with  great  earnestness ;  "  I  owed  my  future 
success  to  it."  He  does  not  exemplify  this  impression  by  any  parti- 
cular incidents  of  his  subsequent  life  ;  but  those  who  are  acquainted 
with  the  profession  of  the  bar,  will  be  fully  aware  of  the  advantages 
accruing  to  a  man  of  acknowledged  abilities,  from  a  character  early 
established  for  independence  and  self-respect.  Mr.  Peckham,  who 
received  the  offer  of  promotion  at  the  same  time  with  Mr.  Scott,  and 
who,  like  him,  was  senior  both  to  Mr.  Erskine  and  to  Mr.  Pigott, 
followed  this  manly  example,  and  asserted  his  seniority  with  equal 
effect.  The  dates  and  priorities  are  as  follows : — 
Patents  of  precedence : 

Friday,  May  16th,  1783,  to  the  Hon.  Thomas  Erskine— 
with  rank  next  after  the  king's  counsel  then  being. 

Wednesday,  May  21st,  to  Arthur  Pigott, — 

with  rank  next  after  the  king's    counsel,  and  after  the    Hon.  T. 
Erskine. 

But  these  two  patents  were  virtually  corrected  by  the  patents  of 
precedence  to  Mr.  Peckham  and  Mr.  Scott  granted 
Friday,  May  30th,  to  Harry  Peckham,— 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  85 

placing  him  next  after  the  king's  counsel,  then  being  and  before  the 
Hon.  T.  Erskine. 

Wednesday,  June  4th,  to  John  Scott, — 
next  after  the  king's  counsel  then  being,  and  after  Harry  Peckham. 

The  4th  of  June,  1783,  the  day  on  which  Mr.  Scott's  patent  of 
precedence  bears  date,  was  that  on  which  he  completed  his  32d 
year;  and  on  the  20th  of  the  same  month  he  was  called  to  the  bench 
of  the  Middle  Temple. 

Lord  Eldon's  eminent  school-fellow,  Lord  Collingwood,  afterwards 
evinced  a  similar  spirit  on  the  subject  of  professional  honours.  Miss 
Forster  was  speaking  to  Lord  Eldon  of  a  naval  officer,  who,  she  said, 
had  gained  two  steps  from  his  superior  officers  being  killed. 

Lord  Eldon. — The  same  thing  happened  to  Lord  Collingwood,  not 
at  Trafalgar,  but  at  the  battle  on  the  first  of  June.  Medals  were 
given  on  that  occasion  but  not  to  him. 

Miss  F. — How  bitterly  he  felt  the  omission ! 

Lord  Eldon. — And  how  properly !  When  the  medal  was  sent  to 
him  for  Cape  St.  Vincent,  he  returned  it  with  a  letter,  saying  that  he 
felt  conscious  he  had  done  his  duty  as  well  on  the  1st  of  June  as  at 
Cape  St.  Vincent,  and  that  if  he  did  not  merit  the  first  medal,  neither 
could  he  merit  the  second.  He  was  quite  right :  he  would  have  both 
or  neither.  Both  were  sent  to  him. 

Mr.  Scott's  increasing  reputation  now  recommended  him  to  the  dis- 
pensers of  parliamentary  honours.  On  the  death  of  Mr.  John  St. 
Leger  Douglas,  member  for  Weobly  (a  borough  in  Herefordshire, 
then  in  the  patronage  of  Lord  Weymouth,  but  now  extinguished  in 
the  Reform  act  of  1832,)  Mr.  Scott  received,  through  his  friend  Lord 
Thurlow,  an  offer  from  Lord  Weymouth  of  the  vacant  seat ;  of  which 
negotiation  Mr.  John  Surtees,  Lady  Eldon's  brother,  has  made  this 
memorandum : — 

"  When  Lord  Thurlow,  at  Lord  Weymouth's  request,  offered  Lord 
Eldon  a  seat  in  the  Commons  for  Weobly,  Lord  Eldon  told  Lord 
Thurlow  that  he  could  only  accept  it  on  one  condition,  that  his  con- 
duct in  Parliament  should  be  entirely  independent  of  Lord  Wey- 
mouth's political  opinions.  Lord  Thurlow's  reply  was,  '  For  this  I 
stipulated ;  and  if  there  had  been  any  difference  between  Lord  Wey- 
mouth and  me  on  this  point,  his  lordship  must  have  sought  some 
other  messenger.' ' 

The  new  writ  was  moved  on  the  6th  of  June  1783,  and  Mr.  Scott 
went  down  to  Weobly  as  candidate.  The  following  particulars  of  his 
election  which  took  place  without  opposition,  are  from  the  Anec- 
dote Book,  with  some  additions  from  his  communications  to  Mrs. 
Forster : — 

"  When  I  first  came  into  Parliament  I  was  elected  for  Weobly  m 
Herefordshire.  About  that  period  there  were  many  meetings  in  dif 
ferent  parts  of  England  for  promoting  what  was  called  reform  m 
Parliament.  Lord  Surrey,  afterwards  Duke  of  Norfolk,  was  at  that 
time  a  great  reformer ;  notwithstanding  which,  he  spared  neither  pains 
nor  money  to  carry  elections  at  various  places,  in  order  to  form  a 


86  LIFE  OF  LORD 

great  parliamentary  interest :  and  he  often  condescended  to  do  things 
very  inconsistent  with  what  ought  to  be  the  conduct  of  a  man  of  high 
birth.  He  either  stood  at  that  time  or  took  a  strong  part  with  some 
person  who  did  stand  as  a  candidate  for  Hereford,  and  condescended, 
when  he  was  somewhat  inebriated,  to  ride  into  that  city  upon  a  cider 
cask.  He  made  a  long  speech  in  favour  of  parliamentary  reform,  and 
illustrated  what  he  stated,  by  calling  the  attention  of  his  audience  to 
the  fact  that  Mr.  Scott,  a  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  gentleman,  a  young 
barrister,  totally  unknown  to  the  people  of  Weobly,  was  to  be  elected 
there  by  the  influence  of  a  nobleman." 

"  When  I  got  to  Weobly,  I  inquired  what  was  the  usual  mode  of 
proceeding  there,  and  I  was  told  that  I  was  to  go  first  to  the  house 
that  contained  the  prettiest  girl  in  the  place,  and  give  her  a  kiss. 
This  I  thought  was  a  very  pleasant  beginning.  I  did  so,  and  then 
went  to  the  different  voters.  When  I  presented  myself  on  the  hustings, 
a  very  old  man  addressed  me,  stating  that  I  was,  as  he  understood,  a 
lawyer,  and  ought  to  be  able  to  give  them  a  speech,  which  was  what 
they  had  not  heard  from  the  hustings  for  thirty  years ;  and  he  adverted 
to  what  Lord  Surrey  had  said  about  me  at  Hereford.  I  accordingly 
got  upon  a  heap  of  stones,  and  made  them  as  good  a  speech  upon 
politics  in  general  as  I  could,  and  it  had  either  the  merit  or  demerit 
of  being  a  long  one.  My  audience  liked  it  on  account,  among  other 
things,  of  its  length.  I  concluded  by  drawing  their  attention  to  Lord 
Surrey's  speech.  I  admitted  that  I  was  unknown  to  them.  I  said 
that  I  had  explained  my  public  principles,  and  how  I  meant  to  act  in 
Parliament ;  that  I  should  do  all  I  had  promised,  and  that  though 
then  unknown  to  them,  I  hoped  I  should  entitle  myself  to  more  of 
their  confidence  and  regard  than  I  could  have  claimed,  if,  being  the 
son  of  the  first  duke  in  England,  I  had  held  myself  out  as  a  reformer 
whilst  riding,  as  the  Earl  of  Surrey  rode,  into  the  first  town  of  the 
county,  drunk,  upon  a  cider  cask,  and  talking,  in  that  state,  of  reform. 
My  audience  liked  the  speech,  and  I  ended  as  I  had  begun,  by  kissing 
the  prettiest  girl  in  the  place  ;  very  pleasant,  indeed.  Lord  Surrey 
had  often  been  my  client,  even  at  that  early  period  of  my  life.  He 
had  heard  of,  or  read  my  speech ;  and,  when  I  met  him  afterwards 
in  town,  he  good-humouredly  said,  '  I  have  had  enough  of  meddling 
with  you  ;  I  shall  trouble  you  no  more.' ' 

Of  this  visit  to  Weobly  the  Anecdote  Book  further  relates  what 
follows : — 

"  I  lodged  at  the  vicar's,  Mr.  Bridge's.  He  had  a  daughter,  a 
young  child,  and  he  said  to  me,  '  Who  knows  but  you  may  come  to 
be  chancellor?  As  my  girl  can  probably  marry  nobody  but  a  clergy- 
man, promise  me  you  will  give  'her  husband  a  living  when  you  have 
the  seals.'  I  said,  '  Mr.  Bridge,  my  promise  is  not  worth  half  a  crown, 
but  you  may  have  my  promise.'  "  It  will  be  seen  hereafter  what  came 
of  this  pledge. 

The  election  took  place  on  the  16th  of  June.  It  passed  without 
any  further  occurrence  of  note,  and  Mr.  Scott  went  back  to  London 
member  for  Weobly. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON. 
***  **  '°  *" 


«'  Dear  Harry, 

"I  was  elected  on  Monday;  and  the  return  bavin-*  been  broimht  i 
Commons,  I  have,  as  lam  told,  the  right  to  frank  ^f  venture  onfof  L  fi    rC,?°US,e  °f 


*ou  must  not  mention  it.    If  they  go  out,  Parliament  will  be  di^ved'  ^ 

"  Yours  affectionately, 
"  Lincoln's  Inn,  Tuesday  night  (17th  June,  1783.)"  "  J°H!r  SCOTT- 

In  the  vacation  of  this  year  (1783),  William  Scott,  who  appears  to 
have  been  then  on  a  tour  in  South  Wales,  was  seized  at  Neath  with 
an  illness  which  put  his  life  in  danger.  Under  this  apprehension  he 
wrote  some  papers  to  be  transmitted  to  his  brother  John  of  which  a 
few  extracts  are  subjoined. 

***««*. 

"My  great  comfort  is  to  write  on  to  my  dearest  Jack,  and  about  my  wife.    Act  for 
me.     Wife,  child.    She  knows  I  recommend  you  to  her  case. 

Object  of  my  life  to  make  sisters  easy. 
"Save  *  *  *  from  ruin  if  we  can. 
"  Give  my  love  to  Mrs.  Scott  and  John. 

'Protect  my  memory  by  your  kindness.  Life  ebbs  very  fast  with  me;  my  dyinjj 
thoughts  are  all  kindness  and  fraternal  love  about  you." 

"While  sensation  remains,  I  think  on  my  dearest  brother,  with  whom  I  have  spent 

my  life.    I  die  with  the  same  sentiments.    As  the  hand  of  death  approaches,  it  is  a 

isolation  to  think  of  him.    Oh,  cherish  my  wife  .'    If  you  loved  me,  be  a  brother  to 

You  will  have  trouble  about  my  affairs,  you  will  not  grudge  it.    Oh,  take  care 

I  leave  you  that  duty.    It  is  the  last  relief  of  my  failing  mind.    Cherish  my 

lory.   Keep  *  •»  *  from  ruin  if  you  can  by  any  application  of  any  part  of  my  child's 

fortune  that  is  reasonable. 

"Once  mo  re  fare  well.    God  bless  you." 

A  favourable  change,  however,  presently  occurred,  which  removed 
any  necessity  for  the  transmission  of  these  papers  to  Mr.  John  Scott 
as  matter  of  business,  though  the  letters  just  quoted  appear  to  have 
been  afterwards  sent  in  testimony  of  the  warmth  and  earnestness  of 
the  writer's  feelings.  In  a  few  days  the  invalid  was  able  to  write  to 
his  brother  as  follows  : 

"Ship  and  Castle  Inn,  Nealli,  Glamorgan.   Friday,  Sept.  5. 
"  Dear  Brother  John, 

"  I  desired  my  wife  to  write  you  an  account  of  the  wretched  situation  I  am  in.  It 
has  pleased  God  to  visit  me  with  a  violent  bilious  fever.  You,  who  know  what  a 
wretched  constitution  I  possess,  will  easily  guess  the  effect  of  such  a  disorder  upon 
me.*  The  violence  of  the  fever  has  in  some  degree  remitted;  but  it  has  reduced  me 
to  such  a  state  of  weakness  and  langour  that  I  have  reason  to  be  prepared  for  the 

*  NOTE  BT  THE  PRESENT  EARL.  —  These  homely  effusions  prove  the  unreserved 
sincerity  of  his  fraternal  affection.  The  reader  will,  perhaps,  be  led  to  reflect  how- 
little  the  issues  of  life  and  death  are  in  our  own  hands,  when  he  remembers  that 
although  the  sufferer  had  not  at  this  time  completed  his  thirty-eighth  year,  yet  the 
beloved  relative  whom  he  addressed  was  not  doomed  to  see  him  descend  into  the 
grave  until  an  advanced  period  of  the  ensuing  century,  and  in  the  nineiy-first  year  of 
his  age,  crowned  with  distinction  and  honours  bnt  little  inferior  to  those  which  the 
younger  brother  himself  had  by  that  time  achieved. 


88  LIFE  OF  LORD 

worst  consequences.  God  alone  knows  whether  I  shall  be  able  to  leave  the  inn 
where  I  am  lying;  but  I  have  lived  a  full  week  longer  than  I  expected,  and  therefore 
am  willing  to  entertain  some  hope  that  God  may  be  willing  to  spare  me  a  little  longer. 
I  am  reduced  to  a  most  frightful  degree,  so  that  I  believe  you  would  hardly  know  me, 
my  legs  being  so  wasted  that  I  am  unable  to  walk  across  the  room.  Last  night,  for 
the  first  lime,  I  got  a  little  disturbed  sleep  without  laudanum.  My  poor  wife  is  my 
nurse.  I  have  no  servant  with  me,  and  have  to  depend  upon  the  poor  attendance 
that  is  to  be  met  with  in  a  Welsh  inn.  A  Scotch  physician  visits  me,  and  has  kept 
me  hitherto  from  the  grave  by  Madeira,  which  the  kindness  of  the  neighbouring  gen- 
tlemen furnishes  me.  I  have  settled  my  affairs  as  well  as  my  miserable  condition 
would  allow  me  to  do  it.  You  and  my  wife  are  executors;  I  have  made  some  pro- 
vision for  the  comfort  of  my  mother  and  sisters,  and  done  as  much  as  I  thought  just 
to  save  *  *  *from  ruin.  It  has  been  the  greatest  consolation  of  my  most  melancholy 
hours,  while  I  thought  death  was  advancing  hastily  upon  me,  to  write  a  number  of 
papers  to  you,  which  will  be  directed  to  you  in  case  it  pleases  God  to  take  me  hence. 
They  will  show  you  how  much  you  have  been  in  my  thoughts  to  the  very  last.  Pray 
M'rite  to  me  when  you  come  to  town;  it  will  be  a  great  cordial  if  I  am  alive;  call  at 
our  house  and  inquire  after  my  child,  and  acquaint  my  family  with  my  condition. 
My  love  to  my  sister  and  nephew. 

"  Your  most  affectionate  brother, 

«  W.SCOTT." 

This  letter  is  addressed,  John  Scott,  Esq.,  M.  P.,  Powis  Place, 
London ;  which  indicates  that  Mr.  John  Scott's  progress  at  the  bar 
had  already  been  sufficient  to  give  him  the  means  of  leaving  Carey 
Street,  for  the  more  agreeable  neighbourhood  of  Queen  Square,  and 
of  fields  then  green  and  uncolonized.  His  early  and  unusual  success, 
however,  seems  not  to  have  exempted  him  from  those  misgivings 
about  the  permanence  of  professional  fortune  which  are  apt  to  over- 
cast an  anxious  mind,  especially  during  the  intervals  when  employ- 
ment slackens ;  for  all  who  have  practised  at  the  bar  well  know  that 
the  proverbial  uncertainty  of  the  law  is  not  confined  to  the  suitors. 
The  approach  of  November  term,  1783,  seems  to  have  found  him 
in  some  such  desponding  mood,  apparently  aggravated  by  a  fit  of 
ill-health ;  for,  among  his  papers  of  that  period,  there  is  a  letter  from 
his  friend,  John  Lee  (who,  within  three  weeks  afterwards,  became 
attorney-general)  affectionately  rallying  the  spirits  of  his  junior  as 
follows : 

"  Grantham,  Nov.  1, 1783. 
"  Dear  Scott, 

"  Your  letter,  which  I  received  this  minute,  was  a  very  cheering  one  to  me.  But 
keep  up  your  spirits,  and  let  it  not  be  said  that  a  good  understanding  and  an  irre- 
proachable life,  and  uncommon  success,  and  every  virtuous  expectation,  are  insuffi- 
cient to  support  tranquillity  and  composure  of  mind.  If  you  are  cast  down,  who  is 
to  hold  up?  In  a  few  days  I  hope  to  meet  you  in  good  health  and  good  heart,  and  in 
the  mean  time  I  remain, 

"  Your  faithful  and  affectionate 

"  J.  LEE." 

The  succeeding  particulars,  which  further  illustrate  the  state  of 
Mr.  Scott's  mind  at  that  time,  are  from  the  accurate  pen  of  the  pre- 
sent earl. 

"  Nearly  ten  years  had  now  elapsed  since  the  birth  of  his  eldest 
son,  which  had  been  followed  by  a  long  illness  of  the  mother.  In 
the  interval. that  had  now  elapsed,  their  family  had  had  no  increase; 
but  at  the  close  of  October  1783,  Mr.  Scott  had  found  himself  com- 
pelled to  return  to  London  for  the  commencement  of  the  law  term, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  go 

leaving  Mrs.  Scott  in  daily  expectation  of  her  confinement,  under  the 
hospitable  roof  of  his  brother  Henry  Scott  at  Newcastle  " 

"  His  anxiety  was  soon  relieved ;  for,  on  the  first  of  November  the 
same  day  on  which  his  friend  John  Lee  had  addressed  to  him'  the 
foregoing  letter  from  Grantham,  Mrs.  Scott  gave  birth  to  her  second 
child,  who  received  after  her  mother,  the  name  of  Elizabeth  This 
is  the  present  Lady  Elizabeth  Repton." 

The  llth  of  November  was  the  first  day  of  that  memorable  session, 
in  which  George  III.  overset  the  coalition  ministry.  Adverse  how- 
ever as  was  the  disposition  of  the  sovereign,  the  government  of 
Lord  North  and  Mr.  Fox  had  the  eager  good  wishes  of  the  young 
Prince  of  Wales,  who  had  now  attained  his  majority.  With  Mr. 
Fox  he  had  been  cultivating  a  personal  friendship ;  and  some  good 
will  subsisted  between  H.  R.  H.  and  Lord  North.  Lord  Eldon's 
Anecdote  Book  relates,  that 

"  On  some  occasion  Lord  North  had  made  himself  a  party,  at  the 
prince's  desire,  to  reconcile  the  king  and  the  prince  relative  to  some 
matter  which  had  caused  some  uneasy  feelings  between  them.  Lord 
North  succeeded,  and  called  upon  the  prince  to  inform  him  of  that, 
and  addressed  him  to  this  effect :  '  Now  let  me  beseech  your  royal 
highness  in  future  to  conduct  yourself  differently.  Do  so  on  all  ac- 
counts— do  so  for  your  own  sake — do  so  for  your  excellent  father's 
sake — do  so  for  the  sake  of  that  good-natured  man  Lord  North,  and 
don't  oblige  him  again  to  tell  the  king,  your  good  father,  so  many 
lies  as  he  has  been  obliged  to  tell  him  this  morning.'" 

The  address,  in  answer  to  the  opening  speech  from  the  throne,  was 
agreed  to  in  both  Houses ;  but,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the 
20th  of  the  same  month,  when  Mr.  Fox's  India  bill  had  been  read 
the  first  time,  and  a  motion  was  made  to  appoint  that  day  se'nnight 
for  the  second  reading,  the  two  great  parties  of  Mr.  Fox  and  Mr. 
Pitt  began  avowedly  to  marshal  themselves  in  the  array  which  they 
continued  to  exhibit  under  those  respective  leaders  for  almost  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century.  The  debate,  though  not  carried  to  the  issue  of  a 
division,  was  signalized  by  the  maiden  speeches  both  of  Mr.  Scott 
and  Mr.  Erskine. 

Mr.  Scott  expressed  an  apprehension  that  the  tendency  of  the  bill  was  dangerous; 
but  said,  that  he  desired  to  defer  his  final  opinion  until  further  light  should  have  been 
thrown  upon  the  subject:  after  which,  as  he  was  attached  to  no  particular  party,  he 
would  vote  as  justice  should  seem  to  him  to  direct.  He  thought  the  time  allowed  for 
the  examination  of  the  subject  was  inconveniently  short.  The  speech  from  the  throne 
had  called  on  the  House  to  consider  and  deliberate;  but  the  evident  object  of  the 
mimster  was,  that  instead  of  considering,  they  should  conclude,  and,  without  delibera- 
tion, decide.  (23  Parl.  Hist.  1239.) 

Mr.  Fox  himself  replied  to  Mr.  Scott;  and,  according  to  the  parliamentary  history 
(p.  1241),  "expressed  a  high  opinion  of  his  abilities  and  his  goodness.  Though  he 
had  not  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  him  speak  before  in  that  House,  yet  he  was  not 
a  stranger  to  his  eloquence,  and  did  not  doubt  of  hearing  it  employed  at  all  times  on 
the  side  of  equity.  He  could  not,  however,  forbear  taking  notice  of  one  thing  that  had 
fallen  from  the  hon.  gentleman's  mouth.  He  had  observed  that,  before  one  could 
decide  it  was  necessary  to  deliberate:  but  how  had  he  acted  in  the  instant  business? 
Not,  surely,  consistently  with  the  maxim  he  had  laid  down;  for,  without  any  oppor- 
tunity of  deliberating,  he  had  ventured  to  give  his  decision;  and,  he  thought,  with 
a  good  deal  of  positiveness."  (23  Parl.  Hist.  1239.  &c.) 


90  LIFE  OF  LORD 

This  imputation,  it  is  obvious,  was  merely  a  rhetorical  one :  as  the 
only  "  decision"  which  Mr.  Scott  "  had  ventured  to  give"  was  against 
deciding  too  precipitately.  He  had  simply  been  applying  his  favourite 
apophthegm  "  sat  cito  si  sat  bene." 

His  next  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,  which  was  on  the  8th 
of  December  1783,  against  the  third  reading  of  the  India  bill,  appears 
from  the  report  of  it  in  the  parliamentary  history,  to  have  been  vastly 
more  ambitious  than  successful.  It  contained  some  ingenious  argu- 
ment, but  was  overrun  with  quotations  and  far-fetched  allusions, 
neither  suited  to  the  taste  of  his  auditors,  nor  congenial  with  the  dry 
nature  of  the  subject. 

He  began  by  deprecating  the  notion  that  he  was  a  lawyer  ready  to  advocate  in  that 
assembly  any  cause  which  he  was  paid  to  support;  and  declared  that  such  a  prac- 
tice would  be  repugnant  to  his  nature.  He  assured  the  House  that  it  was  not  his 
intention  to  trouble  them  except  upon  what  he  might  deem  to  be  occasions  of  very 
great  importance,  but  the  present  occasion  he  considered  to  be  of  such  a  kind;  and 
he  therefore  thought  it  his  duty  to  deliver  his  sentiments  upon  it — the  solemn  senti- 
ments of  his  heart  and  conscience.  After  this  exordium,  he  proceeded  to  argue 
against  the  bill  upon  several  grounds,  the  chief  of  which  were,  that  there  existed  no 
necessity  for  so  strong  a  measure,  and  that  it  would  increase,  beyond  all  bounds,  the 
influence  of  the  government.  He  would  not  say  that  there  were  no  circumstances 
in  which  Parliament  might  infringe  upon  a  charter;  the  safety  of  the  country  might 
require  such  a  proceeding  in  some  cases;  and  the  territorial  property  and  imperial 
power  of  the  East  India  Company  established  a  very  essential  difference  between 
them  and  any  other  chartered  body;  but,  in  the  present  case,  no  necessity  had  been 
made  out.  He  spoke  in  respectful  terms  of  Lord  North,  and  more  highly  still  of  Mr. 
Fox;  but  even  to  Mr.  Fox  it  was  not  fitting  that  so  vast  an  influence  should  be  in- 
trusted. As  Brutus  said  of  Cassar — 

" he  would  be  crown'd ! 

How  that  might  change  his  nature, — there's  the  question." 

It  was  an  aggravation  of  the  affliction  he  felt,  that  the  cause  of  it  should  originate 
with  one  to  whom  the  nation  had  so  long  looked  up ;  a  wound  from  him  was  doubly 
painful.  Like  Joab,  he  gave  the  shake  of  friendship,  but  the  other  hand  held  a  dag- 
ger, with  which  he  despatched  the  constitution.  Here,  Mr.  Scott,  after  an  apology  for 
alluding  to  Sacred  Writ,  read,  from  the  Book  of  Revelations,  some  verses  which  he 
regarded  as  typical  of  the  intended  innovations  in  the  affairs  of  the  English  East 
India  Company: — "And  I  stood  upon  the  sand  of  the  sea,  and  saw  a  beast  rise  up 
out  of  the  sea,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  upon  his  horns  ten  crowns. 
And  they  worshipped  the  dragon,  which  gave  power  unto  the  beast;  and  they  wor- 
shipped the  beast,  saying,  Who  is  like  unto  the  beast?  Who  is  able  to  make  war 
with  him?  And  there  was  given  unto  him  a  mouth  speaking:  great  things;  and 
power  was  given  unto  him  to  continue  forty  and  two  months." — "  Here,"  said  Mr.  Scott, 
"  I  believe  there  is  a  mistake  of  six  months — the  proposed  duration  of  the  bill  being 
four  years,  or  forty-eight  months." — "  And  he  caused  all,  both  small  and  great,  rich 
and  poor,  free  and  bond,  to  receive  a  mark  in  their  right  hand  or  in  their  foreheads." 
— "  Here  places,  pensions  and  peerages  are  clearly  marked  out." — "  And  he  cried 
mightily  with  a  strong  voice,  saying,  "  Babylon  the  Great" — "  plainly  the  East  India 
Company" — "is  fallen,  is  fallen,  and  is  become  the  habitation  of  devils,  the  hold  of 
every  foul  spirit,  and  the  cage  of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird." 

Mr.  Scott  observed  that  these  invasions  by  ministers  upon  the  rights  of  the  com- 
pany were  worse  than  those  general  warrants,  which  were  happily  got  the  better  of 
some  years  ago;  for  those  warrants  alleged  a  cause  of  violence;  but  the  bill  against 
the  company  alleged  not  any  special  act  of  delinquency.  He  said  that  illegal  acts  of 
power  had  been  borne  in  this  country,  and  might  probably  be  borne  again ;  but  that 
illegal  acts,  under  colour  of  law,  were  what  the  country  would  never  bear:  and  he 
referred  to  a  passage  in  Thucydides  (Book  I.  ch.  79),  where  the  Athenian  ambassa- 
dors observe  to  the  Lacedaemonian  magistrates,  that  men  are  much  more  provoked 
by  injustice  than  by  violence,  inasmuch  as  injustice,  coming  as  from  an  equal,  has 
the  appearance  of  dishonesty ;  while  mere  violence,  proceeding  from  one  stronger, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  91 

seems  but  the  effect  of  inevitable  necessity.  He  reflected  on  those  parliaments  of 
former  times,  which  had  attempted  violent  and  unconstitutional  acts,  and  showed  the 
mischiefs  which  had  arisen  from  those  attempts.  He  vindicated  the  conduct  of  the 
East  India  directors,  contending  that  their  instructions  to  their  servants  had  been  ex- 
cellent, and  that  not  they,  but  their  servants  had  been  in  fault;  and  recommending 
that  the  powers  of  the  directors,  if  not  sufficient  to  give  them  the  control  which  was 
necessary,  should  be  enlarged.  The  effect  of  the  new  constitution  was  a  doubtful 
one.  The  new  directors  now  proposed  might  be,  in  their  turn,  pronounced  inade- 
quate to  the  government  of  so  remote  a  country,  and  then, 

"  de  te 
Fabula  narratur," 

not  even  "  mutato  nomine."  The  alleged  bankruptcy  of  the  Company  had  not  been 
proved,  and  time  ought  to  be  given  for  inquiring  into  the  fact.  They  cried  out  for 
some  respite — they  pleaded,  like  Desdemona, 

"  Kill  me  to-morrow — let  me  live  to-night 
But  half  an  hour!" 

When  that  prayer  was  rejected,  a  deed  was  done  which  was  repented  too  late.  It 
had  been  observed  that  the  crown  had,  in  reality,  enjoyed  the  power  of  directing  India 
affairs,  through  the  medium  of  the  proprietors.  If  so,  why  should  not  the  ministers 
of  the  crown  take  a  share  of  the  blame  for  the  misconduct  of  those  affairs'?  It  was 
a  new  thing  to  see  the  persons  who  had  objected  to  the  act  of  1773,  as  a  precedent 
for  encroaching  on  the  rights  of  chartered  companies,  now  quoting  that  very  act  as 
a  reason  for  supporting  the  bill  under  consideration.  It  was  thus  that  one  precedent 
begat  another;  and  that  the  beginning  of  evil  was  as  the  letting  out  of  water.  The 
great  plea  for  taking  the  power  out  of  the  hands  of  both  the  proprietors  and  the  direc- 
tors was,  that  they  clashed  with  one  another.  But  would  it  be  said  that,  when  co- 
operating powers  interfered,  there  was  no  remedy  but  to  destroy  them  both,  and  to 
establish  a  new  one  on  their  ruins  1* 

"  To  this  singular  display  of  pedantic  pleasantry,"  (says  the  Law 
Magazine,  No.  xli.)  "the  House  listened  in  mute  amazement;  and 
Sheridan  retorted  with  such  point  and  wit  on  the  absurd  jumble  of 
Scripture  and  Shakspeare  in  the  mouth  of  a  lawyer,  that  he  never  ven- 
tured on  a  repetition  of  similar  topics."  His  vocation,  undoubtedly, 
was  not  for  rhetorical  embellishment ;  and  he  evinced  his  judgment  in 
forthwith  desisting  from  this  flighty  style,  (into  which  he  had  probably 
been  seduced  by  the  successful  and  dazzling  example  of  Mr.  Sheridan 
himself,)  and  placing  his  reliance  thenceforward  on  those  more  sub- 
stantial faculties  in  which  no  man  was  his  superior.  He  seems, 
however,  to  have  been  a  good  deal  mortified,  for  the  moment,  at  the 
flat  reception  of  his  elaborate  attempt ;  for,  Mr.  Fox  having  observed, 
not  unkindly,  that  ministers  "  had  placed  a  learned  and  eloquent 
member  in  the  front  of  the  battle,  who  had  certainly  acquitted  himself 
ably,"  Mr.  Scott  is  found  asking,  rather  pettishly,  by  what  authority 
Mr.  Fox  assumed  to  regulate  him  as  to  the  period  of  the  debate  at 
which  he  was  to  speak?  Mr.  Erskine,  in  return,  desired  to  know  in 
what  passage  of  Mr.  Fox's  speech  there  was  any  attempt  to  usurp 
such  a  control  ? 

Mr.  Fox's  bill  was  carried  that  night  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
by  a  majority  of  more  than  two  to  one,  under  the  altered  title  of  "A 
b'ill  for  the  better  management  of  the  territories,  revenues,  and  com- 
merce of  this  kingdom  in  the  East  Indies;"  but  it  was  lost  m  the 
House  of  Lords,  on  Wednesday,  the  17th  of  December:  and  witi 

»  See  24  Parl.  Hist.  33—37. 


92  LIFE  OF  LORD 

fell  the  coalition  ministry.  At  twelve  o'clock  of  the  following  night, 
Thursday,  "  a  messenger  conveyed  to  the  two  secretaries  of  state" 
(Lord  North  and  Mr.  Fox)  "his  majesty's  orders  that  they  should 
deliver  up  the  seals  of  their  offices,  and  send  them  by  the  under- 
secretaries, Mr.  Frazer  and  Mr.  Nepean,  as  a  personal  interview 
on  the  occasion  would  be  disagreeable  to  his  majesty."* 

A  new  administration  was  formed  under  Mr.  Pitt,  who  took  the 
offices  of  first  lord  of  the  treasury  and  chancellor  of  the  exchequer. 
The  great  seal  was  committed  again  to  Lord  Thurlow,  and  Mr. 
Kenyon  and  Mr.  Pepper  Arden  became  attorney  and  solicitor-ge- 
neral. Mr.,  afterwards  Lord,  Grenville  was  appointed  to  be  joint 
paymaster  of  the  forces  with  Lord  Mulgrave ;  and  Mr.  Dundas, 
afterwards  Lord  Melville,  to  be  treasurer  of  the  navy. 

*  24  Parl.  Hist.  236—327,  note. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  93 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1783—1788. 

Opposition  to  Mr.  Pitt's  government.— Suspension  of  supplies  and  of  mutiny  bill. 

Party  imputations.— Secretary  of  the  treasury.— Dissolution  of  Parliament.— Mr. 
Scott  re-elected  for  Weobly. — The  seven  kings. — Anecdotes  of  juries. A  smug- 
gler's daughter. — Dr.  Johnson's  death-bed  advice. — Westminster  scrutiny.— Irish 
commercial  propositions. — Rohilla  war. — Stories  of  the  northern  circuit.— Mr.  Scott 

chancellor  of  Durham. — Permits  for  claret. — East  India  declaratory  bill. Mr. 

Francis's  invective  against  Mr.  Scott  and  the  lawyers. 

THE  dawn  of  Mr.  Pitt's  power  was  beset  with  storms.  But  he 
stood  high  above  them  in  the  unbroken  sunshine  of  royal  favour,  and 
in  no  long  time  saw  the  clouds  roll  off  beneath  his  feet. 

Although  the  new  ministers,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  were 
under  the  necessity  of  vacating  their  seats  on  their  appointments,  and 
although  the  near  approach  of  Christmas,  concurring  with  that  neces- 
sity, gave  good  ground  for  an  adjournment,  the  House  of  Commons, 
of  which  the  majority  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  new  administration, 
did  not  think  fit  to  separate  for  the  recess  until  the  Christmas  eve, 
having  first  carried,  on  the  22d  of  December  1783,  an  address  to  the 
crown,  deprecating  a  dissolution  of  Parliament, — and,  on  the  24th,  a 
resolution  that  the  lords  of  the  treasury  ought  not  to  consent  to  the 
acceptance  of  bills  from  India  except  under  certain  specified  circum- 
stances. In  the  debate  on  this  resolution,  some  of  the  friends  of  the 
new  government  contended  that  it  was  unconstitutional  for  the  House 
to  fetter  the  lords  of  the  treasury  in  the  exercise  of  a  discretion  com- 
mitted to  them  by  an  act  of  the  entire  legislature ;  but  Mr.  Scott, 
though  considering  the  resolution  not  to  be  necessary,  admitted  that 
if  it  had  been  so,  it  would  not  have  been  unconstitutional ;  since  it 
was  the  unquestionable  right  of  the  House  to  advise  any  executive 
department  of  the  administration,  whatever  the  authority  by  which 
the  powers  of  that  department  might  be  constituted. 

Having  affected  the  rejection  of  Mr.  Fox's  bill  for  the  government 
of  India  by  seven  commissioners,  (which,  if  enacted,  was  to  have 
been  followed  by  another,  providing  for  various  matters,  chiefly  of 
detail,  but  hardly  of  inferior  importance),  the  new  minister,  on  the 
reassembling  of  Parliament  in  January  1784,  gave  notice  of  a  measure 
of  his  own  for  the  regulation  of  Indian  affairs,  which,  in  the  same 
week,  he  introduced.  The  partisans  of  Mr.  Fox  and  Lord  North, 
forming,  as  they  did,  a  large  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons,  now 
opposed  themselves  systematically  to  the  progress  of  public  affairs 
under  Mr.  Pitt's  administration.  They  passed  various  votes,  offen- 
sive as  well  as  defensive,  prohibiting  the  payment,  toward  any  service 


94  LIFE  OF  LORD 

already  voted,  of  any  money  not  appropriated  by  act  of  Parliament : 
— deferring,  to  the  end  of  February,  the  second  reading  of  the  Mutiny 
bill, — rejecting  the  India  bill  of  Mr.  Pitt, — expressed,  by  way  of  reso- 
lution, their  dislike  to  the  continuance  of  the  ministry,  and  directing 
that  this  last  resolution  should  be  humbly  laid  before  the  king.  A 
counter  address  was  voted  by  the  Lords,  on  the  4th  of  February, 
assuring  the  crown  of  their  support  in  the  just  exercise  of  its  preroga- 
tives: and  on  the  10th,  Mr.  Fox,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  proposed 
that  until  it  should  be  known  what  answer  the  king  would  give,  or 
whether  any  at  all,  the  supplies  should  be  suspended.  The  subject  of 
supply  was  accordingly  postponed  till  the  18th,  when,  upon  Mr.  Pitt's 
communicating  that  the  king  had  not  thought  proper  to  dismiss  his 
ministers,  Mr.  Fox  moved  a  further  postponement,  which  was  carried. 
Mr.  Scott,  on  this  occasion,  spoke  shortly  in  favour  of  the  ministers ; 
observing  that  they  had  the  people  on  their  side,  many  of  whom,  in 
their  addresses  to  the  throne,  held  a  very  different  language  from 
that  of  their  representatives  in  that  house.  On  the  20th,  an  address 
was  carried,  by  a  majority  of  twenty-one,  for  a  united  and  efficient 
administration:  and  on  the  1st  of  March  another  was  voted,  by  a 
reduced  majority  of  twelve,  for  the  removal  of  the  ministry  then  ex- 
isting. To  each  of  these  addresses  the  king  sent  a  temperate,  but 
unyielding  answer.  On  the  5th  of  March,  Mr.  Fox  moved  a  still 
further  postponement  of  the  annual  Mutiny  bill,  the  act  then  in  exist- 
ence being  to  expire  on  the  25th ;  but  he  carried  this  postponement 
by  a  majority  of  only  nine :  and  on  the  8th,  when  he  moved  a  repre- 
sentation to  the  king  on  the  state  of  public  affairs,  the  majority  against 
ministers  was  found  to  have  dwindled  to  one. 

As  usually  happens  when  parties  are  nearly  balanced,  each  side 
charged  corruption  upon  the  adversary.  Mr.  Scott  writes  thus  to  his 
relations  in  the  north  : — 

******** 

"No  dissolution  to  day — life  promised  by  Pitt  till  Monday, and  no  longer  promised; 
but  whether  to  be  enjoyed,  doubtful.  Both  our  Newcastle  members  voted  against  us 
last  night;  but  the  majority,  you  see,  crumbles;  and  if  it  was  not  for  North's  myrmi- 
dons which  he  bought  with  the  treasury  money,  we  should  have  a  complete  triumph. 
I  told  the  chancellor  to-day  that  he  ought  to  resign,  or  dissolve  us.  But  what  will  be 
done,  or  what  will  become  of  the  country,  God  knows. 

"  Believe  me  with  love,  &c.  &c. 
"Yours, 

" JOHN  SCOTT. 

"Saturday,  Lincoln's  Inn. 

"  I  have  had  the  offer  of  two  other  seats  in  Parliament  gratis — but  I  shall  keep  my 
old  one." 

This  letter  gives  us  the  imputation  made  by  the  Tories:  the 
Anecdote  Book  records  the  counterblast  of  the  Whigs : 

"  During  the  debates  on  the  India  bill,  at  which  period  John 
Robinson  was  secretary  to  the  treasury,  Sheridan,  on  one  evening 
when  Fox's  majorities  were  decreasing,  said,  '  Mr.  Speaker,  this  is 
not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at,  when  a  member  is  employed  to  corrupt 
every  body  in  order  to  obtain  votes.'  Upon  this  there  was  a  great 
outcry  made  by  almost  every  body  in  the  House.  '  Who  is  it  ? 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON. 


Name  him!  name  him!'     'Sir,'  said  Sheridan  to  the  speaker    'I 
shaH  not  name  the  person      It  is  an  unpleasant  and  invidious  thing 
to  do  so   and  therefore  I  shall  not  name  him.     But  don't  suppose 
sir   that  I  abstain  because  there  is  any  difficulty  in  naming  him-  I 
:ould  do  that,  sir,  as  soon  as  you  could  say  Jack  Robinson  '  " 

On  the  24th  of  March  the  king  prorogued  the  Parliament,  which 
he  dissolved  on  the  following  day.  The  measure  was  attended  with 
complete  success.  The  coalition  had  been  very  distasteful  to  the 
people:  they  were  glad  to  show  their  loyalty  at  the  expense  of  an 
obnoxious  House  of  Commons;  and  they  answered  the  appeal  of  their 
sovereign  by  returning  a  large  majority  in  aid  of  his  administration. 
ine  Anecdote  Book  records  a  somewhat  curious  opinion  of  the  oreat 
leader  of  the  opposition,  respecting  one  of  the  causes  of  his  party's 
unpopularity  : 

"  Fox  said,  that  Sayers's  caricatures  had  done  him  more  mischief 
than  the  debates  in  Parliament  or  the  works  of  the  press.—  The  prints 
of  Carlo  Khan,  Fox  running  away  with  the  India  House,  Fox  and 
Burke  quitting  paradise  when  turned  out  of  office,  and  many  other  of 
these  publications,  had  certainly  a  vast  effect  upon  the  public  mind." 
At  this  general  election,  Mr.  Scott  was  again  returned  for  the 
borough  of  Weobly.  For  the  purpose  of  presenting  himself  in  person, 
he  was  obliged,  as  the  election  took  place  during  the  circuit,  to  make 
a  long  journey  across  the  country;  by  which,  however,  he  not  only 
paid  the  due  homage  to  his  constituents  for  his  own  election,  but, 
as  it  fell  out,  was  instrumental  in  saving  another  seat  from  a  candi- 
date of  the  opposite  party.  This  incident  he  relates  in  the  following 
terms  :  — 

:<  When  I  was  a  second  time  elected  for  Weobly  I  was  obliged  to 
leave  Lancaster  assizes,  and  to  do  what  I  could  then  ill  afford  —  to 
leave  my  briefs  and  fees.  I  stopped  at  a  town  (the  last  stage  before 
I  should  come  to  Weobly  —  I  think  Ludlow)  to  change  my  clothes, 
and  have  my  hair  dressed  before  I  should  enter  Weobly.  This  was 
very  soon  after  Fox's  India  bill  had  raised  such  a  ferment  in  the 
kingdom  ;  and,  that  bill  having  proposed  that  seven  persons  should 
have  the  whole  direction  of  the  East  India  Company's  affairs,  they 
got,  in  the  debates,  the  appellation  of  Fox's  seven  kings.  Whilst 
the  hair-dresser  was  preparing  my  head  for  my  entrance  into  Weobly, 
he  said,  '  Sir,  we  understand  that  you  were  in  the  last  Parliament. 
There  is  a  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot,  a  candidate  here  ;  some  say  he  was  one 
of  the  seven  kings,  some  say  he  was  not  ;  but  we  are  all  agreed,  that 
if  he  was  one  of  the  seven  kings,  we  would  have  nothing  to  say  to 
him  ;  and  as  we  are  desirous  to  be  sure  about  it,  and  as  you  must 
know,  sir,  will  you  be  so  good  as  to  excuse  my  freedom  in  asking 
whether  he  really  was  one  of  the  seven  kings?'  I  told  the  hair-dresser 
that  he  certainly  was  one  of  the  seven  kings.  '  Why,  then,'  said  he, 
'  if  I  might  only  tell  the  people  that  you  assured  me  he  was,  he  has 
no  chance.  May  I  tell  them?'  '  Yes,'  said  I;  '  truth  is  truth,  and 
I  see  no  objection  to  this  truth  being  told  as  coming  from  me.'  He 


96  LIFE  OF  LORD 

made  proclamation  of  this  upon  leaving  me,  and  Sir  Gilbert  was 
thereupon  entirely  defeated." 

The  new  Parliament  assembled  on  the  18th  of  May  1784:  and  the 
principal  legislative  business  of  its  first  session  was  the  enactment  of 
bills  for  the  government  of  India  and  for  the  regulation  of  various 
other  matters  connected  with  the  affairs  of  the  East.  In  these  mea- 
sures Mr.  Scott  took  no  active  part, — nor  did  he  enter  into  the  discus- 
sions of  that  session  upon  the  Westminster  scrutiny. 

The  professional  rank  conferred  on  him  in  the  preceding  year,  had 
secured  him  in  the  lead  of  his  circuit;  and  to  its  recollections,  both 
grave  and  gay,  he  always  delighted  in  recurring. 

"I  got,"  said  he,  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "into  a  dilemma  with  one  cause 
at  Lancaster.  The  plaintiff  was  a  farmer,  of  some  substance  (amaz- 
ingly fond  those  people  are  of  going  to  law),  and  the  other  party  was 
son  of  a  farmer,  of  some  substance  also,  who  had  run  off  with  the 
daughter  of  the  plaintiff,  and  it  was  for  damages  for  loss  of  her  services 
this  action  was  brought.  Well,  the  instructions  the  farmer  gave  me 
were  these : — '  Mind,  Lawyer  Scott,  you  are  to  say  that  the  man  who 
runs  away  with  another  man's  daughter  is  a  rascal  and  a  villain,  and 
deserves  to  be  hanged.' — 'No,  no,  I  cannot  say  that.' — 'And  why 
not  ?  why  can't  you  say  that  ?' — '  Because  I  did  it  myself;  but  I  will 
tell  you  what  I  will  say — and  I  will  say  it  from  my  heart — I  will  say, 
that  the  man  who  begins  domestic  life,  by  a  breach  of  domestic  duty, 
is  doubly  bound  to  do  every  thing  in  his  power  to  render  both  the 
lady  and  her  family  happy  in  future  life ;  that  I  will  say,  for  I  feel  it.' 
— Well,  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  that  point :  and  the  jury,  after  a 
deliberation  of  nine  hours,  gave  a  verdict  for  SOOZ.  damages." 

The  circumstances  which  induced  this  large  verdict  are  thus 
minuted  in  the  Anecdote  Book: — 

"  The  plaintiff  knew  that  the  defendant's  father  wished  the  young 
folks  to  come  together ;  but,  if  possible,  that  their  union  should  take 
place,  without  his  giving  to  his  son,  the  defendant,  any  fortune  ;  and 
that  if  we  could  only  satisfy  the  jury  that  such  was  the  case,  and  get 
considerable  damages,  considerable  in  their  rank  of  life,  the  defend- 
ant's father  would  not  let  him  go  to  gaol ;  and  there,  probably,  would 
be  a  marriage  satisfactory  to  all.  I  was  leading  counsel  for  the  plain- 
tiff. The  daughter  appeared  as  a  witness :  she  was  extremely  beau- 
tiful, and  so  conducted  herself  as  to  interest  all  present  in  her  favour. 
I  managed  to  let  the  jury  know  what  good  might  be  done  if  good 
damages  were  given.  It  was  difficult  to  do  this  ;  and  that  excellent 
man,  my  friend  Mr.  Justice  Wilson,  frequently  interrupted  me  with 
expressions  of  disapprobation  upon  the  nature  of  my  opening  speech. 
After  he  had  stated  to  them  the  evidence  and  the  law,  the  jury  re- 
tired ;  they  were  out  for  many  hours,  and  at  length  came  into  court 
and  said,  they  found  for  the  plaintiff  with  8001.  damages  ;  considerable 
damages  against  a  farmer's  son.  When  I  was  walking  from  court 
out  of  the  castle  at  Lancaster,  a  man  tapped  me  on  the  shoulder  and 
said,  '  Lawyer,  with  your  law  I  beat  the  judge  and  the  other  eleven 
jurymen.'  '  My  friend,'  said  I,  'how  was  that  managed?'  He  said 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  97 

he  was  not  to  have  been  on  the  jury;  he  had  leave  from  the  judge, 
as  the  assizes  were  nearly  at  an  end,  the  evening  before,  to  go  home ; 
but  that  he  had  come  into  court  to  bid  good-bye  to  some  other  jury- 
man ;  that  he  had  bought  a  bottle  of  rum  to  take  home  with  him,  which 
he  had  in  his  pocket,  and  coming  into  court,  they  got  him  sworn  on 
the  jury  in  the  cause.  That,  when  they  retired,  eleven  were  for  the 
judge's  law,  and  he  was  for  Lawyer  Scott's  law.  That  they  had  long 
debated.  That  he  occasionally  sipped  a  drop  of  his  rum ;  and  when 
he  found  they  would  not  agree  with  him,  he- told  them  he  would  live 
upon  the  rum  as  long  as  he  could,  and  that  they  should  not  have  one 
drop  of  it,  and  he  would  see  who  would  last  out  longest.  l  After 
several  hours,'  he  said,  'they  agreed  with  me  and  you,  lawyer, 
against  the  judge, — and  I  hope  the  young  folks  will  get  married.' 
They  were  almost  immediately  married,  and  the  young  man,  the 
defendant's  father,  paid  as  much  of  the  800/.  as  he  could." 

There  are  other  and  more  ludicrous  instances  which  Lord  Eldon 
was  wont  to  relate  of  obstinacy,  stupidity  and  even  corruption  in 
jurymen.  "  I  remember,"  says  he,  in  the  Anecdote  Book,  "  Mr. 
Justice  Gould  trying  a  cause  at  York  ;  and  when  he  had  proceeded 
for  about  two  hours,  he  observed,  '  Here  are  only  eleven  jurymen  in 
the  box:  where  is  the  twelfth?' — 'Please  you,  my  lord,'  said  one  of 
the  eleven,  '  he  is  gone  away  about  some  business,  but  he  has  left 
his  verdict  with  me.' ' 

"  At  the  assizes  at  Carlisle,  the  plaintiff  having  brought  an  action 
for  slander  against  the  defendant  my  client,  his  counsel  proved  that 
my  client  had  called  the  plaintiff  a  thief,  and  stated  that  as  the  plain- 
tiff did  not  want  great  damages,  but  only  to  vindicate  his  character, 
he  would  be  content  with  101.  damages,  which  was  certainly  as  much 
as  he  was  entitled  to.  Upon  my  cross-examining  the  plaintiff's  wit- 
ness, it  came  out  that  the  plaintiff  himself  had  said  the  defendant  was 
a  highwayman  and  a  robber.  I  submitted,  therefore,  to  the  jury,  that 
if  legal  justice  required  that  my  client  should  pay  IOL  for  calling  the 
plaintiff  a  thief,  moral  justice  required  that  the  plaintiff  should  pay 
one  sum  of  101.  for  calling  my  client  a  highwayman,  and  another  10/. 
for  calling  him  a  robber,  and  that,  therefore,  they  should  not  find  a 
verdict  with  10J.  damages  for  the  plaintiff,  but  a  verdict  with  10/. 
damages  for  the  defendant.  However  morally  just  this  obviously 
was,  the  judge,  Mr.  Justice  Heath,  was  excessively  angry  with  me, 
and  told  the  jury  that  it  was  (as  it  certainly  was)  clearly  against 
law.  The  jury,  however,  gave  a  verdict  for  the  defendant  with  10/. 
damages ;  the  judge  again  and  again  remonstrating  with  them ;  but 
no  other  verdict  would  they  find.  As  the  verdict  was  good  for  no- 
thing, I  advised  with  my  client  to  close  with  a  proposal  that  the  plam^ 
tiff  should  drop  his  action,  each  party  paying  his  own  costs,  and 
close  the  matter."  ,  , 

"  The  greatest  objection  to  the  trial  by  jury  appears  to  be  lou 
upon  the  fact  that  men  of  low  condition  serve  as  jurymen,     f 
can  have  gone  a  circuit  without  seeing  twelve  men  upon  a  jury  who, 
if  they  did  not  implicitly  follow  the  directions  of  the  judge,  would 

VOL.  I. 7 


U»  LIFE  OF  LORD 

quite  incompetent  to  form  an  opinion  upon  any  case  at  all  complicated 
in  the  facts  which  constitute  it.  The  lower  orders  of  jurymen,  too, 
are  easily  corrupted.  I  remember  at  an  alehouse,  where  some  of  us 
dined  upon  a  Sunday  after  seeing  Corby,  in  Cumberland,  a  person 
whom  Serjeant  Bolton  treated  with  a  good  deal  of  milk-punch,  told 
the  serjeant  that  he  was  upon  the  jury  at  Carlisle,  and  would  give  him 
verdicts  wherever  he  could.  Another  juryman  told  me  that  he  gave 
the  same  serjeant  all  the  verdicts  he  could,  because  he  loved  to  en- 
courage a  countryman  :  he  and  the  serjeant  were  Lancastrian  born. 

"  Coming  down  the  steps  from  the  Exchequer  into  Westminster,  I 
followed  two  common  jurymen,  when  I  was  a  law  officer  of  the 
crown,  and  I  overheard  one  say  to  the  other, '  I  think  we  have  given 
the  crown  verdicts  enough;  we  may  as  well  give  them  no  more.' 
I  touched  them  upon  the  shoulders,  and  told  them  they  should  have 
no  more  trouble,  for  I  should  challenge  them  in  all  causes  that 
remained." 

"  Once,"  said  he,  "  I  had  a  very  handsome  offer  made  to  me.  I 
was  pleading  for  the  rights  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Isle  of  Man. 
Now  I  had  been  reading  in  Coke,  and  I  found  there  that  the  people 
of  the  Isle  of  Man  were  no  beggars  ;*  so  in  my  speech  I  said,  '  The 
people  of  the  Isle  of  Man  are  no  beggars  ;  I  therefore  do  not  beg  their 
rights,  I  demand  them.'  This  so  pleased  an  old  smuggler  who  was 
present  that  when  the  trial  was  over  he  called  me  aside  and  said, 
'  Young  gentleman,  I  will  tell  you  what :  you  shall  have  my  daughter 
if  you  will  marry  her,  and  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  for  her  for- 
tune.' That  was  a  very  handsome  offer:  but  I  told  him  that  I  hap- 
pened to  have  a  wife  who  had  nothing  for  her  fortune ;  therefore  I 
must  stick  to  her." 

In  the  December  of  this  year,  1784,  Dr.  Johnson  died.  "  He  was 
a  good  man,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Forster:  "he  sent  me  a  mes- 
sage on  his  death-bed,  to  request  that  I  would  make  a  point  of  attend- 
ing public  worship  every  Sunday,  and  that  the  place  should  be  the 
Church  of  England." 

In  the  succeeding  session,  that  of  1785,  when  the  Westminster 
scrutiny  was  discussed  again,  and  with  all  the  heat  of  party,  Mr. 
Scott  stood  forward  to  maintain  the  law,  even  against  the  adminis- 
tration with  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  act.  At  the  general 
election,  Lord  Hood,  Mr.  Fox  and  Sir  Cecil  Wray  had  been  the 
candidates.  At  the  termination  of  a  poll,  which  had  lasted  from 
the  1st  of  April  to  the  16th  of  May,  1784,  Sir  C.  Wray  stood  low- 
est. At  his  requisition,  the  high  bailiff,  being  the  returning-officer, 
granted  a  scrutiny  and  made  a  special  return  of  the  facts  to  the  she- 
riff. A  resolution  was  moved  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the 
24th  of  the  same  month  of  May,  that  the  high  bailiff  ought  to  have 
made  his  return  of  two  members  for  Westminster ;  but  as  this  would 
have  implied  a  censure  on  the  high  bailiff  unheard,  Sir  Lloyd  Ken- 

*Lord  Coke's  words  are,  "The  inhabitants  of  this  isle  are  religious,  industrious 
and  true  people,  without  begging  or  stealing." — Ithlnst.  ch.  69,  concluding  paragraph. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  99 

yon,  the  master  of  the  rolls,  recommended,  and  Mr.  Pitt  supported, 
a  different  course,  in  order  that  the  high  bailiff  might  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  attend  at  the  bar,  and  defend  his  conduct.  Mr.  Scott 
concurred  in  this  view.  The  high  bailiff  afterwards  attended  ac- 
cordingly ;  and  it  was  resolved  that  he  should  proceed  in  the  scrutiny 
with  all  possible  despatch.  When  the  House  reassembled  for  the 
session  of  1785,  the  scrutiny  was  still  unfinished  ;  and  it  appeared, 
from  the  examination  of  the  high  bailiff,  that  two  years  more  would 
probably  be  insufficient  to  complete  it,  eight  months  having  already 
been  consumed  upon  two  of  the  seven  parishes  of  Westminster,  and 
this  without  the  completion  of  the  inquiry  even  as  far  as  those  two 
were  concerned.  It  was  now,  therefore,  moved  by  the  opposition, 
that  the  return  should  be  made  without  delay  ;  upon  which  it  was  pro- 
posed from  the  other  side,  by  way  of  amendment,  to  acquaint  the  high 
bailiff  that  the  resolution  of  the  preceding  session  did  not  preclude 
him  from  making  his  return  when  he  should  think  himself  justified  in 
doing  so,  and  that  the  House  was  not  satisfied  that  all  possible  expe- 
dition had  been  used  by  the  parties.  This  amendment,  though  sup- 
ported by  ministers,  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  only  29  :  —  in  less 
than  a  fortnight  another  motion  was  made  for  an  immediate  return, 
which  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  only  9,  and  in  a  few  days  after- 
wards renewed  and  carried:  —  and,  on  the  9th  of  March,  (the  high 
bailiff  having  meanwhile  made  his  return,)  the  House  proceeded  to 
discuss  a  motion  of  Mr.  Fox,  for  expunging  from  the  journals  the 
former  proceedings  respecting  the  scrutiny.  The  ministers  prevailed 
to  negative  this  last  motion  ;  but  they  had  not  the  support  of  Mr. 
Scott,  who,  though  he  had  voted  in  the  preceding  session  against  a 
course  involving  censure  on  the  high  bailiff  unheard,  had  partici- 
pated in  none  of  the  subsequent  resolutions  for  the  continuance  of  the 
scrutiny  ;  and  now,  by  a  speech  in  favour  of  the  motion  for  erasing 
them  from  the  journal,  gave  a  proof  that  with  him  the  wishes  of  his 
party,  and  of  the  minister  who  headed  it,  were  of  less  weight  than 
the  considerations  of  principle  and  of  constitutional  law.  He  esta- 
blished, by  a  conclusive  argument  upon  the  statutes  for  regulating 
elections,  from  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  to  that  of  George  III.,  the 
legal  doctrine,  "that  the  election  must  be  finally  closed  before  the 
return  of  the  writ,  and  that  the  writ  must  be  returned  on  or  before 
the  day  specified  in  it."  But  he  added, 

That  notwithstanding  his  own  persuasion  as  to  the  clearness  of  the  law  on  this 
head,  the  recent  proceedings  demonstrated  the  necessity  of  some  additional  enactment 
which  should  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  future  candidates  to  harass  each  other,  or  o 
future  ministers  to  keep  counties  or  towns  unrepresented  under  the  colour  of  scruti- 
nies. This,  however,  might  be  a  work  of  time:  the  expunging  of  the  resolutions 
ought  to  be  the  work  of  that  night,  and  should  have  his  hearty  support. 

Mr.  Fox  was  not  ungrateful  for  this  assistance.     After  noticing  the 
arguments  of  other  lawyers  in  that  debate,  he  said,  — 


One  learned  gentleman  in  particular  (Mr.  Scott)  had  entered  into  the 
case  with  a  soundness  of  argument  and  a  depth  and  a  closeness  of  reasui 
haps  had  scarcely  been  equaled  in  the  discussion  of  any  topic  within  th 
turned  at  all  on  the  statute  and  common  law,  on  the  analogy  of  writs,  and  i 


100  LIFE  OF  LORD 

legal  references  that  had  been  made  in  the  course  of  the  debate.  So  well  and  so  ably, 
indeed,  had  that  learned  gentleman  argued  it,  that  nothing  like  an  answer  had  been 
offered  to  any  one  of  his  appeals  to  his  brethren  of  the  long  robe,  or  any  one  of  his 
doctrines.  In  truth,  he  was  convinced  it  was  out  of  the  power  of  ingenuity  itself  to 
overthrow  the  positions  laid  down  by  that  learned  gentleman.  (25  Parl.  Hist.  p.  129.) 

As  soon  as  the  division  was  over,  Mr.  Fox  pressed  for  some 
legislative  measure  to  prevent  the  like  mischief  thereafter:  and  Mr. 
Pitt,  probably  not  uninfluenced  by  Mr.  Scott's  declaration  of  its  neces- 
ity,  assured  the  House  that  a  bill  should  be  speedily  introduced  for 
that  purpose,  —  not,  however,  as  a  declaratory,  but  as  an  enacting 
law.  The  result  was,  the  statute  25  G.  3.  c.  84.,  "to  limit  the 
duration  of  polls  and  scrutinies,"  and  to  make  other  regulations  touch- 
ing elections. 

In  conversation  with  Lord  Eldon  toward  the  close  of  his  life, 
Mr.  Farrer  said  to  him,  "  I  have  often  wished  to  ask  you,  how  you 
and  Fox  got  on  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Was  he  violent  against 
you  ? "  —  "  No :  on  the  contrary,  Fox  never  said  an  uncivil  wrord  to  me 
during  the  whole  time  that  I  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons;  and 
I'll  tell  you  to  what  I  attribute  that.  When  the  legality  of  the  con- 
duct of  the  high  bailiff  of  Westminster  was  before  the  House,  all 
the  lawyers  on  the  ministerial  side  defended  his  right  to  grant  the 
scrutiny.  I  thought  their  law  bad,  and  I  told  them  so.  I  asked 
Kenyon  how  he  could  answer  this,  that  every  writ  of  commission 
must  be  returned  on  the  day  on  which  it  is  made  returnable  ?  He 
could  not  answer  it.  I  made  a  pretty  long  speech :  I  know  that  my 
law  was  right,  and  I  believe  that  I  made  some  impression  upon  some 
members  of  the  House.  Fox  afterwards  came  to  me,  and  said  some- 
thing very  civil  and  obliging." 

The  legislation  of  the  years  1780  and  1782  had  established  the  com- 
mercial and  political  independence  of  Ireland :  but  it  still  remained 
to  settle  a  code  of  regulations  for  the  commerce  between  Ireland 
and  Great  Britain.  For  this  purpose,  a  series  of  resolutions  was 
moved  by  Mr.  Pitt,  in  May  1785,  against  which  a  violent  opposition 
was  raised  in  both  countries ;  and  then  it  appears  to  have  been  that 
the  unhappy  phrase  "insult  to  Ireland,"  first  suggested  itself.  The 
conditions  required  from  the  smaller  country,  for  the  advantages 
communicated  by  the  larger,  were  angrily  represented  as  affronts  and 
degradations.  It  had  been  stipulated  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain, 
that  so  long  as  the  proposed  reciprocity  should  continue,  the  naviga- 
tion laws  of  the  two  kingdoms  should  be  the  same,  Ireland  adopting 
the  code  already  enacted  by  Great  Britain,  and  keeping  pace  with  her 
in  any  future  regulations.  This  proposal  was  impugned  as  an  inroad 
on  the  independence  of  Ireland,  and  Mr.  Fox  lent  the  weight  of  his 
great  reputation  to  the  delusion.  On  the  24th  of  May, 

Mr.  Scott  defended  the  proposed  arrangement,  and  showed  that  Ireland  was  no 
more  degraded  by  a  covenant  to  maintain  her  regulations  on  a  level  with  those  of 
Great  Britain  than  Great  Britain  by  a  covenant  to  equalize  the  intercourse  between 
her  and  Ireland. 

With  the  British  Parliament,  these  even-handed  and  conciliatory 
arguments  obtained  a  complete  acceptance,  and  a  bill  was  introduced 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  101 

for  effectuating  the  resolutions.  But  the  representatives  of  the  sister 
kingdom  were  less  easy  to  be  reasoned  with ;  and  a  similar  bill, 
presented  to  their  Parliament,  was  carried  in  the  Irish  House  of 
Commons  by  a  majority  of  only  19.  A  victory  so  close,  on  a  mea- 
sure so  important,  was  regarded  in  those  days  as  a  defeat :  and  the 
government,  after  reading  the  bill  a  first  time,  declined  to  proceed 
with  it. 

In  1786,  the  early  part  of  the  session  produced  no  business  wherein 
Mr.  Scott  took  any  particular  interest.  He  went  the  circuit  as  usual. 

The  affairs  of  India,  and  especially  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Hastings,  were  now  become  matters  of  considerable  interest  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  proceedings  of  our  Indian  governments 
had  been  made  the  subject  of  inquiry  in  the  session  of  1782;  but 
without  practical  effect.  In  1785  the  matter  had  been  revived :  and 
in  1786,  accusations  against  Mr.  Hastings  were  pressed  upon  the 
House  by  Mr.  Burke,  Mr.  Fox  and  other  leading  members  of  oppo- 
sition, with  a  view  to  impeachment.  In  the  debate  of  the  2d  of 
June,  1786,  on  the  conduct  of  the  Rohilla  war,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  pass  a  general  resolution  against  Mr.  Hastings,  without  specifica- 
tion of  the  particular  grounds  of  it.  This  Mr.  Scott  resisted,  in  a 
speech,  which,  though  short,  is  deserving  of  notice,  both  for  the 
principle  enforced  by  it,  and  because  the  answer  given  to  it  by  Mr. 
Fox  attests  the  high  estimation  wilich  Mr.  Scott  had  already  attained. 

After  objecting  to  the  expedient  of  consolidating  allegations,  individually  insuffi- 
cient, into  a  general  charge,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying,  in  ihe  aggregate,  a  censure 
of  which,  perhaps,  no  one  item  would  have  been  supported  by  a  majority  of  the  House 
if  it  had  been  put  to  the  vote  singly,  Mr.  Scott  took  occasion  to  animadvert  upon  an 
intimation  thrown  out  the  day  before  by  Mr.  Fox,  that  he  would  always  watch  the 
members  of  the  legal  profession  in  iheir  arguments. 

Mr.  Fox  replied  by  assuring  the  House  and  iMr.  Scott,  that  he  had  meant  nothing 
more  than  that  lawyers  were  apt  to  infuse  the  peculiar  style  of  reasoning  to  which 
they  were  habituated  at  the  bar,  into  their  arguments  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
"None  but  a  fool  or  a  madman,"  he  said,  "  would  hold  the  learned  profession  in  con- 
tempt. He  had  a  very  high  respect  for  it  ,and  for  the  learned  gentleman,  in  particular, 
whose  great  abilities  and  high  character  entitled  him  to  the  respect  of  every  man." 

The  Indian  questions,  particularly  the  charges  against  Mr.  Hastings, 
continued  to  employ  much  of  the  attention  of  the  House  during  the 
remainder  of  this  and  the  following  session :  but  Mr.  Scott  took  little 
part  in  any  of  them. 

It  was  probably  in  the  summer  of  1786  or  1787  that  Mr.  Scott 
was  opposed,  in  an  important  fishery  cause  on  the  circuit,  to  Mr. 
Bearcroft,  a  leader  of  considerable  practice  in  London,  specially  re- 
tained for  that  trial.  The  Anecdote  Book  records  the  circumstances 
of  it  as  follows :  — 

"Bearcroft  came  down  to  the  assizes  at  Carlisle,  with  a  special 
retainer  of  300  guineas,  in  a  salmon  fishery  cause.  I  led  the  cause 
on  the  other  side ;  and,  at  our  consultation  on  the  preceding  evening, 
we  agreed  never  to  ask  a  witness  a  question  except  in  the  language 
and  dialect  of  Cumberland,  which  Bearcroft  could  not  unders 
Accordingly,  when  I  began  to  cross-examine  his  first  witness,  wh< 
had  said  a  great  deal  about  the  salmon,  good  and  bad,  which  the 


102  LIFE  OF  LORD 

fishery  had  produced  in  different  seasons,  I  asked  whether  they  were 
obliged  to  make  '  ould  souldiers'  of  any  of  them.  These  words 
'ould  souldiers,'  to  be  made  out  of  salmon,  puzzled  Bearcroft,  and 
he  applied  to  me  to  give  him  an  explanation  of  them.  I  told  him 
that  a  counsel  from  London-town,  who  had,  as  he  had  told  us  over 
night,  amused  and  instructed  himself  by  reading  Home  Tooke's  VE?«<» 
ftttpoevta,  could  not  surely  be  at  a  loss  for  the  meaning  of  language  * 
and  that,  at  any  rate,  it  was  not  my  business  to  assist,  in  the  leading 
of  a  cause,  my  adversary,  whose  abilities  and  knowledge,  &c.  &c. 
He  then  applied  to  the  judge  for  an  explanation,  who  told  him  he 
could  give  him  none,  because  he  could  not  conceive  what  the  words 
meant.  After  a  squabble  between  the  judge  and  myself,  I  explained ; 
— but  throughout  the  whole  cause  there  was  hardly  a  question  asked 
by  us  which  did  not  produce  a  similar  scene.  The  jury  were  asto- 
nished that  neither  judge  nor  Bearcroft  had  wisdom  enough  to  un- 
derstand what  they  all  so  well  understood :  and  they  inferred,  from 
Bearcroft's  extreme  ignorance  of  what  they  all  so  well  knew,  that  he 
had  a  rotten  cause.  We  got  a  verdict,  and  Bearcroft  swore  that  no 
fee  should  ever  tempt  him  to  come  among  such  a  set  of  barbarians 
as  the  Cumberland  men  again.  N.  B.  An  '  ould  souldier,'  is  made  by 
hanging  up,  in  a  chimney,  a  salmon  caught  out  of  due  season,  when 
the  fish  is  white,  instead  of  red ;  and  it  acquires,  in  the  chimney,  a 
colour  like  a  soldier's  old  red  coat  half  worn  out." 

From  this  story  of  a  soldier  not  militant,  we  pass  to  one  which  the 
Anecdote  Book  records  of  a  pugnacious  barber: 

"  At  Appleby  assizes,  I  cross-examined  a  barber  rather  too  severely. 
He  got  into  a  great  passion.  I  desired  him  to  moderate  his  angerr 
and  said  that  I  should  employ  him  to  shave  me  as  I  passed  through 
Kendal  to  the  Lancaster  assizes.  He  said,  with  great  indignation,  '  I 
would  not  advise  you,  lawyer,  to  think  of  that,  or  risk  it.' ' 

The  two  circuit  stories  which  follow  are  also  from  the  Anecdote 
Book: 

"My  old  fellow-student,  Robert  Sinclair,  afterwards  recorder  of 
York,  a  very  honest  Irishman,  was  shown  a  tumulus  by  an  antiqua- 
rian in  Yorkshire,  who  proposed  a  bet  that  nobody  could  show  a 
greater  antiquity, — any  thing  older, — in  the  king's  dominions.  Sin- 
clair took  the  bet,  and  won  it  by  pointing  to  the  ground  on  wrhich  the 
tumulus  was  raised ;  which  must  have  been  there  before  the  tumulus 
could  be  placed  upon  it." 

"  Sir  Thomas  Davenport  was  a  very  dull  speaker.  Whilst  making 
a  very  long  dull  speech  to  a  jury,  in  Northumberland,  a  boy  asleep 
on  a  window  considerably  high  from  the  floor,  fell,  and  was  reported, 
though  untruly,  to  be  dead.  I  was  at  that  time  attorney-general  of 
the  northern  circuit* :  and,  at  the  circuit  court  at  Appleby,  I  indicted 
him  for  wilful  murder,  perpetrated  by  a  long,  dull  instrument,  viz.,  a 
speech.  He  was  convicted  and  severely  fined." 

"  When  I  was  on  circuit,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  his  grandson,  "  and 

*  The  circuit-attorney-generalship  is  a  jocular  office. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  103 

paid  a  visit  to  the  late  Lord  Ravensworth,  his  gamekeeper,  in  speak- 
ing of  him,  said  to  me,  '  I  have  lived  with  Lord  Ravensworth  sixty 
years,  and  have  never  had  occasion  to  be  angry  with  him  but  once 
the  whole  time.' " 

In  1787,  the  death  of  Mr.  Justice  Willes  occasioned  a  vacancy  in 
the  chancellorship  of  the  bishopric  and  county  palatine  of  Durham : 
and  Lord  Thurlow's  brother,  who  had  just  been  translated  to  that  see, 
bestowed  the  office  on  Mr.  Scott.  The  patent  is  dated  1st  March, 
1787,  but  the  confirmation  by  the  dean  and  chapter  appears  to  have 
been,  by  some  accident,  delayed,  its  date  being  in  1788,  November 
20. 

About  the  time  of  Bishop  Thurlow's  translation  to  Durham,  there 
flourished  in  society  a  gentleman  whom  his  familiars  used  to  call  Will 
Hay.  "  Will  Hay,"  says  the  Anecdote  Book,  "was  a  commissioner 
of  the  customs,  and  a  very  jolly  companion  of  Lord  Thurlow.  He 
was  also  very  intimate  with  Thurlow,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  afterwards 
removed  to  Durham,  who  was  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  also,  and  lived  in 
the  deanery.  Upon  being  made  Bishop  of  Durham  he  took  another 
house,  and  there  being  at  that  period  some  difficulty  in  removing 
wine  without  proper  permits,  so  as  to  secure  it  against  seizure,  the 
bishop  thought  he  could  not  do  better  than  to  consult  Hay  how  to 
act  in  removing  his  claret,  which  he  told  Hay  was  very  excellent. 
1  Pray,  my  lord  bishop,'  says  Hay,  '  what  quantity  of  this  claret  have 
you?'  The  bishop  said  he  had  about  six  dozen  of  it.  'If  there  is 
no  more,'  observed  Hay,  'it  is  very  easy  to  secure  it  against  seizure: 
you  have  nothing  more  to  do  than  to  ask  me  to  dine  with  you  six 
times  before  you  quit  the  deanery  house.' ' 

(3/r.  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry.") 

"July  14, 1787,  Lincoln's  Inn. 

**  ******* 

"My  wife  being  advised  strongly  to  Tunbridge,  I  travel  into  the  North,  solus.  After 
Lancaster,  I  shall  return  again  to  Durham  to  hold  my  chancery  sittings.  During  the 
assizes,  I  shall  leave  it  to  you  and  Mr.  Surtees  to  dispose  of  me  in  point  of  habitation 
as  you  shall  agree;  but,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  ask  it,  I  confess  I  should  think  it 
most  convenient  for  all  parties,  if  you  and  he  could  find  me  a  conveniently-situated 
lodging  for  the  business  and  consultations,  allowing  me,  in  feeding  hours,  to  divide 
myself  between  you;  for  I  am  conscious  I  must  be  a  sad  bore  in  a  family,  the  greatest 
part  of  the  day,  with  so  many  attorneys,  &c.,  about  me.  You  will,  however,  let  me 
know  beforehand  what  you  determine. — I  shall  not  be  at  Durham  assizes,  as  mj 
chancellorship  makes  it  not  quite  proper  for  me  to  attend  there." 

It  is  related  that  when  Mr.  Scott  was  chancellor  of  the  county  pala- 
tine, an  application  was  made  to  him  to  direct  an  allowance  at  college 
to  a  minor,  a  ward  of  the  court,  who  would  be  entitled,  when  of  age, 
to  an  income  of  about  300J.  a  year.  Knowing  how  dangerous  it  is 
to  a  young  man  to  possess  just  as  much  as  will  exempt  him  from  the 
wholesome  necessity  of  labour,  Mr.  Scott,  on  granting  the  allowance, 
added  this  advice. 

"  You  will  shortly  become  entitled  to  a  small  property,  which  may 
prove  to  you  either  a  blessing  or  a  curse,  according  as  you  use  it. 
It  was,  perhaps,  fortunate  for  me  that  I  was  not  situated  in  my  early 


104  LIFE  OF  LORD 

life  as  you  are  now.  I  had  not,  like  you,  a  small  fortune  to  look  to  ; 
I  had  nothing  to  depend  on  but  my  own  exertions  ;  and  so  far  from 
considering  this  a  misfortune,  I  now  esteem  it  a  blessing ;  for  if  I  had 
possessed  the  same  means  which  you  will  enjoy,  I  should,  in  all  pro- 
bability, not  be  where  I  now  am.  I  would,  therefore,  caution  you 
not  to  let  this  little  property  turn  .your  mind  from  more  important 
objects,  but  rather  let  it  stimulate  you  to  cultivate  your  abilities,  and 
to  advance  yourself  in  society." 

The  trial  of  the  impeachment  against  Mr.  Hastings,  at  the  bar  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  began  in  February,  1788,  and  lasted  till  April,  1795, 
when  it  terminated  in  his  complete  acquittal.  The  preparation  for  it 
had  occupied  much  of  the  time  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  ses- 
sions of  1787,  and  of  1787-8  :  in  the  latter  of  which  a  considerable 
interest  was  excited  also  by  some  other  Indian  questions.  By  this 
time,  the  great  increase  of  Mr.  Scott's  professional  reputation  had 
begun  to  add  weight  to  the  opinions  expressed  by  him  in  Parliament: 
and  this  was  remarkably  indicated  in  the  debate  upon  the  East  India 
Declaratory  Bill,  introduced  on  the  25th  of  February,  1788,  by  Mr. 
Pitt,  under  the  following  circumstances.  In  the  preceding  October, 
when  some  apprehensions  were  entertained  of  a  rupture  with  France, 
a  resolution  had  been  taken  by  the  British  government  of  sending  to 
the  East  Indies  four  regiments  of  the  king's  troops  as  a  permanent 
force  for  the  protection  of  those  possessions :  and  this  proposal  had 
been  received  by  the  directors  as  a  wise  and  satisfactory  precaution. 
But  as  soon  as  the  immediate  danger  had  passed  by,  they  began  to  be 
alarmed  at  the  expense,  and  now  sought  to  shift  it  from  the  company 
to  the  public.  With  this  view,  they  alleged  that  the  sixth  section  of 
the  India  bill,  24  Geo.  3.  s.  2.  c.  25, — empowering  the  board  of 
commissioners,  for  the  affairs  of  India  "from  time  to  time  to  superin- 
tend, direct  and  control  all  acts,  operations  and  concerns  which  in 
any  wise  relate  to  the  civil  or  military  government  or  revenues  of  the 
British  territorial  possessions  in  the  East  Indies,"  in  the  manner  by 
that  act  directed,  was  not  meant  to  give  them  the  power  of  imposing 
upon  the  Indian  revenues  the  expense  of  any  troops  which  govern- 
ment might  think  fit  to  send  out  for  the  protection  of  those  possessions, 
unless  where  such  aids  were  applied  for  by  the  court  of  directors. 
Respecting  this  construction  of  the  act,  which  was  chiefly  grounded 
on  a  reference  to  the  seventeenth  section  of  a  former  statute,  the  21st 
Geo.  3.  c.  65,  the  opinions  of  several  eminent  lawyers  were  taken, 
and  among  others,  of  Mr.  Scott  and  Mr.  Erskine :  and  in  order  to 
settle  some  doubts  to  which  the  differences  of  counsel  might  be 
thought  to  give  countenance,  Mr.  Pitt,  on  Mr.  Scott's  advice,*  now 
called  upon  Parliament  to  pass  an  act  declaratory  of  the  law.  On  the 
3d  of  March,  Mr.  Erskine  and  Mr.  Rous  were  heard  at  the  bar  of  the 
Commons  as  counsel  for  the  East  India  Company  against  the  bill ;  and 
a  considerable  part  of  Mr.  Erskine's  address  consisted  of  an  answer 
to  the  printed  opinion  of  Mr.  Scott.  The  subject  being  resumed  on 

*  See  "  Strictures  on  Eminent  Lawyers,"  p.  21 1.    (Anon.  Kearsley,  1790.) 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  105 

the  5th,  Mr.  Scott,  —  after  pleading,  as  his  apology  for  coming  for- 
ward on  a  subject  of  so  much  magnitude,  the  special  reference  of 
counsel  to  his  printed  opinion,  and  after  claiming  credit  for  a  con- 
scientious adherence  to  his  own  sense  of  duty  in  the  course  he  was 
pursuing,  —  proceeded  to  argue  the  question  on  its  political,  but  still 
more  fully  on  its  legal,  and  on  its  constitutional  grounds.  Of  the 
legal  and  political  portions  of  his  speech  the  interest  has  passed  away 
with  the  occasion  :  but  the  constitutional  passages  of  his  argument, 
those  which  relate  to  the  general  principles  of  declaratory  legislation, 
have  a  permanent  value.  Upon  this  branch  of  the  subject,  the  main 
objections  of  his  opponents  were,  "that,  in  the  declaratory  form  of 
enactment,  Parliament  was  exercising  a  judicial  function  ;"  (a  sort  of 
duty  which,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  the  House  of  Commons  very 
seldom  discharges  with  much  credit  or  advantage  :)  "that  if  the  bill 
had  been  expedient  at  all,  it  should  have  been  a  bill,  not  to  declare, 
but  to  explain  and  amend  :  and  that  either  an  obvious  ambiguity  in 
language  on  the  face  of  the  act,  or  an  actual  clashing  in  the  decisions 
of  the  courts  upon  its  construction,  was  requisite  to  lay  a  sufficient 
ground  for  the  introduction  of  a  declaratory  law." 

"Mr.  Scott,  in  answering  the  objectors,  admitted  that  Parliament,  when  it  proceeded 
to  pass  a  declaratory  law,  was  acting  in  a  judicial  capacity  :  and  he  agreed  that  this 
capacity  was  one  in  which  Parliament  ought  not  to  act,  except  where,  as  here,  the 
necessity  of  the  case  was  unquestionable,  and  the  mischief  large  enough  to  justify 
extraordinary  interposition.  He  admitted,  too,  that  a  mere  difference  of  opinion 
among  lawyers,  upon  the  construction  of  an  existing  act  of  Parliament,  was  not  an 
adequate  reason  for  the  enactment  of  a  declaratory  law;  but  he  could  not  agree  that 
an  obvious  ambiguity  in  language  or  a  conflict  of  judicial  decisions,  though  proper 
grounds  for  a  declaratory  enactment,  were  its  only  proper  grounds.  If  it  were  neces- 
sary that  Parliament  should  defer  its  interposition  till  two  clashing  decisions  had 
actually  taken  place,  these  absurdities  would  follow:  that  a  long,  nay  indefinite, 
delay  might  occur  between  the  first  decision  and  the  second:  and  that  even  after  both 
decisions  should  have  been  pronounced,  one  of  the  parties  affected  must  sustain  not 
only  the  unmerited  loss  of  his  cause  and  his  costs,  but  the  additional  mortification  of 
afterwards  finding  that  the  law  had  in  reality  been  with  him  at  the  very  time  when 
he  was  turned  round  by  the  court's  misconstruction  of  it." 

Some  judgment  of  the  weight  which  Mr.  Scott's  argument  carried, 
and  of  the  corroboration  which  government  derived,  upon  the  legal 
part  of  the  subject,  from  the  sanction  of  so  eminent  a  lawyer  as  he  had 
now  become,  may  be  formed  from  the  pains  which  were  taken  to  com- 
bat his  printed  opinion  by  the  counsel  for  the  company,  and  from  the 
pointed  manner  in  which  his  particular  arguments  were  assailed  by 
Mr.  Sheridan,  Colonel  Barre  and  other  members  of  opposition.  In  a 
further  debate  upon  the  same  subject  on  the  14th  of  March,  the  speech 
of  Mr.  Scott  was  again  made  the  subject  of  a  long  and  formal  attack, 
by  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  Philip)  Francis. 

It  was  not,  he  said,  a  legal,  but  a  legislative  question  :  and  it  was  absurd  for  Par- 
liament  to  ask  of  lawyers  what  it  meant  by  its  own  act  and  deed.    * 
to  be  sure."  continued  Mr.  Francis,  "  we  have  every  assistance  that  learning  an 

s        Mr.  John  Scott   m«* 


. 

practice  can  afford.     We  have  a  learned  person  (Mr.  John  Scott) 
universally  acknowledged  to  be  the  great  luminary  of  the  law  whose 
oracles,  to  whose  skill  and  authority  all  his  own  profession  look  up  with 
and  amazement.     Well,  sir,  what  information  have  we  gained  from  Jha 
nent  person?    I  will  not  attempt  to  follow  or  repeat  so  long,  and,  as  I  have  I 


106  LIFE  OF  LORD 

so  ingenious  an  argument.  Ingenuity,  it  seems,  is  the  quality  which  is  chiefly 
wanted  and  relied  on,  on  the  present  occasion.  But  I  well  remember  the  course  of 
it.  The  first  half  hour  of  his  speech,  at  least,  was  dedicated  to  himself.  He  told  us 
•who  he  was ;  he  explained  to  us,  very  distinctly,  the  whole  of  his  moral  character, 
which  I  think  was  not  immediately  in  question;  and  assured  the  House  that  his  in- 
tegrity was  the  thing  on  which  he  valued  himself  most,  and  which  we  might,  with 
perfect  security,  rely  on.  Of  his  learning,  I  confess  he  spoke  with  more  than  mode- 
ration,— with  excessive  humility.  He  almost  stultified  himself,  for  the  purpose  of 
proving  his  integrity.  For  the  sake  of  his  morality,  he  abandoned  his  learning;  and 
seemed  to  dread  the  conclusions  that  might  be  drawn  from  an  overrated  opinion  of 
his  excessive  skill  and  cunning  in  his  profession.  In  my  mind,  sir,  there  was  no 
occasion  for  this  extraordinary  parade.  The  learned  gentleman's  reputation  in  pri- 
vate life,  I  believe,  is  unimpeached.  What  we  wanted,  what  we  expected  of  him, 
was  his  learning,  not  his  character.  At  last,  however,  he  proceeded  to  the  subject  of 
debate.  Here  we  were  all  in  profound  silence:  attention  held  us  all  mute.  Did  he 
answer  your  expectation?  Did  you  perfectly  understand  him?  Did  he  perfectly 
understand  himself?  I  doubt  it  much.  If  he  had  understood,  he  could  have  explained 
himself  to  the  meanest  capacity.  If  you  had  distinctly  understood  him,  you  might 
distinctly  remember  what  he  said.  Now,  setting  aside  the  adept,  (I  mean  his  own 
profession,)  setting  aside  those  who  have  been  initiated  in  the  mysteries,  is  there  a 
man  here  who  can  remember  and  is  able  to  state  the  learned  gentleman's  argument? 
— I  believe  not.  For  my  own  part,  though  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  listen  with  more 
attention  than  I  did,  I  confess  I  soon  lost  sight  of  him.  At  first,  indeed,  he  trifled  with 
the  subject,  in  a  manner  that  was  intelligible  at  least,  perhaps  dexterous,  though  not 
conclusive.  He  argued  some  little  collateral  points  with  a  good  deal  of  artifice:  he 
made  many  subtle  argumentative  distinctions;  he  tried,  at  least,  to  involve  us  in  nice, 
logical  difficulties,  and  to  drive  us  ad  absurdum  by  what  he  called  unavoidable  infer- 
ence, from  false  premises. — In  short,  he  attacked  or  defended  some  of  the  outposts 
of  the  question,  with  what  I  suppose  is  held  to  be  great  ability  in  Westminster  Hall. 
He  skirmished  well  at  a  proper  distance  from  the  main  body  of  the  subject.  All  this 
I  acknowledge.  But  when  he  came  at  last  to  the  grand  point,  at  which  we  had  waited 
for  him  so  long,  at  which  we  had  impatiently  expected  the  predominant  light  of  his 
superior  learning,  the  decision  of  the  oracle,  did  he  resolve  your  doubts?  Did  he 
untie,  or  did  he  cut  the  Gordian  knot?  Did  he  prove  to  you  in  that  frank,  plain, 

Eopular  way,  in  which  he  ought  to  have  addressed  this  popular  assembly,  and  which 
e  would  have  done,  if  he  had  been  sure  of  .his  ground,  did  he  demonstrate  to  you, 
that  the  act  of  1784,  clearly  and  evidently,  or  even  by  unavoidable  construction,  gave 
the  power  declared  by  the  present  bill  ?  Sir,  he  did  no  such  thing.  If  he  did,  let  us 
hear  it  once  more.  He  who  understands  can  remember.  He  who  remembers  can 
repeat  I  defy  any  man  living,  not  a  lawyer,  to  recite  even  the  substance  of  that 
part  of  his  argument  The  truth  is,  he  left  the  main  question  exactly  where  he 
found  it." 

There  is  more  of  this  sour  ebullition  frothing  out  against  the  whole 
legal  profession  ;  but  the  foregoing  specimen  of  it  will  probably  have 
satisfied  the  reader.  Its  acrimony,  and  the  sort  of  success  which  is 
said  to  have  greeted  it  among  his  party,  show  the  soreness  of  the  op- 
position at  the  effective  reasoning  of  Mr.  Scott,  which  their  spokes- 
man for  that  occasion,  the  supposed  author  of  Junius, — being  unable, 
whether  from  lack  of  law  or  of  logic,  to  deal  with  it  in  the  way  of 
argument, — was  fain  to  evade  by  this  effusion  of  spleen.  It  may  not 
have  been  without  some  recollection  of  the  incompetency  for  legal 
disquisition  which  Mr.  Francis  so  ostentatiously  exhibited  in  this 
debate,  that  Lord  Eldon,  being  many  years  afterwards  asked  for  his 
opinion  about  the  authorship  of  Junius,  answered,  "  I  cannot  tell  you 
who  the  author  is; — but  I  can  tell  you  what  he  is  not, — a  lawyer." 

The  declaratory  statute  was  enacted,  28  Geo.  3,  c.  8. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  1Q7 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1788—1791. 

Mr.  John  Scott  appointed  solicitor-general,  and  knighted. — Sir  Pepper  Arden,  Mr,  Pitt 
and  Lord  Thurlow. — Progress  of  Sir  William  Scott. — The  king's  illness:  proceed- 
ings  on  the  regency;  solicitor-general's  part  in  them:  jeux-d'esprit.— Lord  Bel- 
grave's  Greek  quotation  and  parody  on  incantation  in  Macbeth. — The  kings  recov- 
ery: his  favour  to  the  solicitor-general. — Lord  Thurlow  and  the  regency. — Specimen 
of  Lord  Thurlow's  jocular  conversation. — Anecdotes  of  St.  James's. — Dinner  hours 
of  lawyers. — Forensic  style  of  solicitor-general. — Pleasantries  of  George  III.  and 
of  the  solicitor-general. — Government  cases. — Spelling  of  "Scott." — Solicitor-gene- 
ral's interposition  against  oppression  of  an  individual  by  the  House  of  Commons. 
— Dissolution  of  Parliament:  impeachment  not  thereby  abated. — Mr.  Fox's  libel 
bill:  solicitor-general's  part  therein. 

AN  opportunity  now  afforded  itself  to  Mr.  Pitt  of  testifying  the 
sense  he  entertained  of  Mr.  Scott's  ability  and  character.  Lord 
Mansfield's  resignation,  early  in  June  1788,  of  the  office  of  lord 
chief  justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  opened  the  way  to  that  dignity 
for  Sir  Lloyd  Kenyon,  who  was  succeeded  as  master  of  the  rolls  by 
the  attorney-general,  Mr.  Pepper  Arden.  The  attorney-generalship 
devolved  to  the  solicitor-general,  Sir  Archibald  Macdonald:  and 
the  office  of  solicitor-general,  thus  vacant,  was  conferred  upon  Mr. 
Scott,  who,  on  the  27th  of  June,  underwent  the  ceremony  of  knight- 
hood. It  is  said*  that  he  intimated  to  the  king  a  modest  wish 
of  declining  this  last  honour;  but  that  George  III.  only  answered, 
"Pooh,  pooh,  nonsense,"  and  gave  him  the  accolade  without  further 
parley.} 

*  Morning  Chronicle,  January  7,  1838. 

f  NOTE  nr  THE  PRESENT  EARL. — During  these  years,  Sir  John  Scott's  elder  brothrr 
William  was  also  making  a  distinguished  progress  in  the  line  he  had  adopted.  He 
had  received,  in  1773,  the  appointment  of  Camden  professor  of  history  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford,  where  his  lectures  in  that  capacity  procured  him  the  highest  reputation: 
in  this  professorship  he  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  Warton  in  1785.  Having  entered 
as  a  student  at  the  Middle  Temple,  June  24,  1762,  he  was  there  called  to  the  bar  on 
the  1 1th  of  February,  1780. 

Pursuing  the  study  of  the  civil  law,  he  had  been  admitted  as  an  advocate,  Novem- 
ber 3,  1779,  and  appointed  advocate-sieneral  for  the  office  of  lord  high  admiral  on  the 
21st  of  May,  1782.  On  the  30th  of  August,  1788,  he  became  judge  of  the  Consistory 
Court  of  London;  and  on  September  24,  1788,  vicar-general  of  the  province  of  Can- 
terbury. 

His  patent  from  King  George  HI.,  as  king's  advocate-general,  bears  the  date  of  • 
28,  1788;  but  it  seems  to  have  met  with  an  accidental  delay,  for  it  contains  a  clausi 
that  the  salary  should  begin  from  September  2.    The  appointment  had  been  garc 
on  September  3,  1788,  on  which  day  Sir  W.  Scott  was  knighted. 


108  LIFE  OF  LORD 

(Sir  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry.") 

Not  dated  ;  but  written  June,  1788. 
"Dear  Harry, 

"I  kissed  the  king's  hand  yesterday  as  solicitor-general.  The  king,  in  spite  of  my 
teeth,  laid  his  sword  upon  my  shoulder,  and  bid  Sir  John  arise.  At  this  last  instance 
of  his  royal  favour,  I  have  been  much  disconcerted  :  but  I  cannot  help  myself,  so  I 
sing— 

'Oho,  the  delight 
To  be  a  gallant  knight!' 

"I  was  completely  taken  in,  having  no  idea  that  the  king  had  any  such  intention. 
My  wife  is  persecuted  with  her  new  title,  and  we  laugh  at  her  from  morning  till 
evening. — Be  so  good  as  with  my  best  love  to  communicate  this  intelligence  to  my 
brother  and  sisters.  Bessy  joins  in  affection  to  your  wife  and  Mary,  and  I  am, 

"Yours  faithfully, 

"J.  SCOTT. 
"  Henry  Scott,  Esq. 
"  Newcastle-on-Tyne." 

At  this  day,  when  the  knighting  of  the  law  officers  has  become 
matter  of  course,  his  coyness  about  the  title  may  look  like  affecta- 
tion; but  he  was  really  taken  by  surprise:  for  Sir  Archibald  Mac- 
donald,  who  had  preceded  him  as  solicitor  and  was  now  to  become 
attorney-general,  was  not  knighted  until  the  same  day  as  himself, 
being  that  next  preceding  the  date  of  the  patents  which  placed  them 
in  their  new  offices. 

A  new  writ  for  Weobly  was  issued  on  the  27th  of  June,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  acceptance  of  office.  His  patent  bears  date  on  the  day 
following :  and  on  the  7th  of  July  he  was  re-elected  for  Weobly. 

Mr.  Surtees,  Lady  Eldon's  brother,  relates  that  "when  Mr.  Pitt 
proposed  to  Pepper  Arden  the  office  of  master  of  the  rolls,  Pepper 
handsomely  wished  to  decline  it,  saying  that  he  was  sure  it  would 
be  disagreeable  to  Lord  Thurlow.  Pitt  replied,  '  Pepper,  you  shall 
be  master  of  the  rolls ;  and  as  to  Thurlow,  I  may  just  as  well  quar- 
rel on  that  as  on  any  other  subject  with  him.'  Lord  Thurlow,  on 
hearing  of  the  appointment,  said  that  his  time  would  be  spent  in 
reversing  that  fellow's  decrees."  He  broke  out  in  metaphor,  too. 
An  old  book  of  precedents,  which  is  now  in  possession  of  Mr.  Col- 
ville  of  the  registrar's  office,  and  which  belonged,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  last  century,  to  Mr.  Green,  another  celebrated  registrar,  has  a 
paper  attached  to  it  containing  this  passage  in  print : 

"  The  following  description  of  the  duty  of  a  master  of  the  rolls  is 
given  by  a  lord  chancellor  not  a  hundred  years  ago :  '  I  look  upon 
my  court  and  that  6f  the  rolls  to  be  somewhat  like  a  stage-coach, 
which,  beside  the  skill  of  the  coachman,  requires  the  assistance  of  an 
able  postillion  to  lead  the  horses  and  pick  out  the  best  part  of  the 
roads.  Now  if  I  have  got  an  ignorant,  furzebush -headed  postillion, 
he  may  overset  the  coach  and  tumble  us  both  into  the  ditch." 

It  is  usual  for  a  barrister,  advanced  to  the  rank  of  a  law  officer  of 
the  crown,  to  quit  his  circuit  and  confine  himself  to  the  business  of 
London,  except  when  taken  on  special  retainer  to  lead  some  particu- 
lar cause  at  the  assizes.  Mr.  Scott,  however,  not  having  received 
his  appointment  of  solicitor-general  till  near  the  time  of  the  northern 
circuit,  and  being  engaged  in  most  of  the  important  causes  to  be  tried 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  109 

upon  it,  appears  to  have  considered  that  his  duty  to  the  clients  who 
had  already  retained  him  would  require  his  attendance  notwithstand- 
ing his  promotion,  and,  consequently,  as  his  fee-book  shows,  he  went 
the  summer  circuit  as  usual,  though  for  the  last  time. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1788  that  King  George  III.  was 
attacked  with  a  malady  which,  about  the  month  of  October,  assumed 
the  distinct  character  of  mental  alienation ;  and  the  House  of  Lords 
and  Commons  having  met  on  the  20th  of  November,  in  pursuance  of 
the  last  prorogation,  and  adjourned  to  the  4th  of  December,  found 
themselves  compelled  on  the  latter  of  those  days,  in  the  unavoidable 
absence  of  the  regular  authority  for  opening  the  session,  to  enter  upon 
a  consideration  of  the  means  for  supplying  the  exercise  of  the  regal 
functions.  In  the  debates  on  this  subject,  Mr.  Fox  and  his  partv, 
who,  possessing  the  confidence  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  looked  for- 
ward to  immediate  office  in  the  event  of  his  royal  highness's  attain- 
ment of  the  kingly  powers,  insisted  that,  during  any  incapacity  of 
the  sovereign,  the  heir-apparent  was  entitled,  constitutionally  and  of 
right,  to  the  unlimited  prerogatives  of  the  crown,  and  that  the  pro- 
vince of  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  was  only  to  fix  the  point  of 
time  at  which  the  possession  and  exercise  of  this  right  should  begin. 
Mr.  Pitt  and  his  colleagues  contended,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
two  Houses  of  Parliament  had  in  themselves  the  entire  authority  to 
select  the  individual  who  should  exercise  the  regency,  and  to  assign 
and  limit  his  powers ;  admitting,  however,  as  a  point  of  discretion 
and  expediency,  that  the  choice,  in  the  present  instance,  ought  to  fall 
upon  the  Prince  of  Wales.  The  House  of  Commons  appointed  a 
committee  to  examine  precedents.  WThen  they  had  reported,  Mr. 
Pitt  moved  three  resolutions ;  the  first  simply  affirming  that  the  per- 
sonal exercise  of  the  royal  authority  was  interrupted  by  his  majesty's 
indisposition ;  the  second  declaring  it  to  be  the  right  and  duty  of  the 
Lords  and  Commons  to  provide  the  means  for  supplying  this  defect, 
as  the  exigency  of  the  case  might  require ;  and  the  third  stating  it  to 
be  necessary  that  the  Lords  and  Commons  should  determine  on  the 
means  whereby  the  royal  assent  might  be  given  to  bills  respecting 
the  powers  to  be  exercised  in  the  king's  name  and  behalf  during  his 
illness. 

The  first  resolution  was  agreed  to.  Upon  the  second  and  third, 
a  very  important  series  of  debates  arose:  the  main  subject  of  conten- 
tion being,  whether  it  were  fitter  that  commissions  should  issue,  for 
opening  Parliament  and  for  giving  the  royal  assent  to  a  regency  bill, 
by  the  great  seal,  or  that  the  two  Houses  should  at  once  address  the 
heir-apparent  to  take  upon  himself  the  government  during  the  king's 
indisposition.  Lord  North,  Mr.  Fox,  and  other  leading  opponents 
of  the  ministry,  recommended  the  proceeding  by  address.  They 
referred,  by  way  of  precedent,  to  the  course  pursued  at  the  Revolution 
of  1688,  when  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  solicited  by  address  of  the 
two  Houses  to  assume  the  royal  authority ;  and  many  arguments  were 
founded  upon  the  superior  simplicity  and  convenience  of  such  a  pro- 
ceeding, which  would  have  the  effect  of  rendering  the  legislature  at 


110  LIFE  OF  LORD 

once  complete, — as  compared  with  the  more  dilatory  process  recom- 
mended by  the  ministry,  of  first  opening  Parliament  by  a  commission, 
next  working  through  both  the  Houses  a  bill  for  the  constitution  of 
a  regency,  and  finally  issuing  another  commission,  to  bestow  on  that 
bill  an  unreal  assent  in  the  king's  name,  but  without  any  volition 
exercised  by  him.  Mr.  Pitt  and  Sir  John  Scott,  the  solicitor-gene- 
ral, were  the  principal  speakers  on  the  other  part.  The  solicitor- 
general's  speech,  in  the  committee  of  the  whole  House  upon  the 
resolutions,  was  delivered  late  in  the  evening,  and  is  very  imperfectly 
recorded.  But  of  his  argument  upon  the  report  of  those  resolutions 
by  the  committee  to  the  House,  22d  December,  the  account  is  full  and 
satisfactory. 

"He  founded  his  dissent  from  the  recommendations  of  the  opposition  mainly  upon 
this  important  distinction, — that  whereas,  when  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  solicited  to 
assume  the  royal  powers,  the  throne  had  become  vacant;  here,  on  the  contrary,  the 
throne  remained  'full  of  the  monarch.'  His  majesty's  personal  capacity  was  sus- 
pended, but  his  political  capacity  remained  entire.  It  was  on  this  principle  that,  during 
these  very  debates,  the  king's  courts  were  administering  justice.  Would  any  man 
dare  to  say  that  George  the  Third  was  king  no  longer?  But  if  he  still  continued  king, 
the  temporary  powers  to  be  exercised  by  his  representative  must  be  conferred  by  the 
same  constitutional  forms  which  the  king  would  have  employed  had  he  been  person- 
ally consenting  to  the  delegation:  otherwise,  instead  of  recognizing  the  continuance 
of  their  sovereign's  political  capacity,  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  would  be  pass- 
ing by  and  superseding  it.  In  this  view,  the  substance  of  the  constitution  would  be 
found  to  depend  not  a  little  upon  its  forms.  The  argument  'that,  if  the  assent  of  the 
crown,  could  by  the  proposed  commission,  be  given  to  a  regency  bill,  other  bills 
might  be  passed  in  the  same  way,'  was  not  a  just  one;  for  the  right  which  necessity 
creates  is  limited  by  the  same  necessity."* 

These  arguments  of  the  solicitor-general  appear  to  have  received 
an  extraordinary  attention ;  for  almost  every  speaker  of  importance 
on  the  other  side  attempted  some  answer  to  Sir  John  Scott,  either  in 
the  same  or  in  one  of  the  subsequent  debates.  Indeed,  it  was  pretty 
well  understood,  that  from  him  was  derived  the  whole  of  the  legal 
doctrine  on  which  ministers  proceeded  in  this  important  matter. 

Before  the  close  of  the  month,  these  three  resolutions  had  been 
agreed  to  by  both  Houses ;  and  Mr.  Pitt  then  submitted,  in  five  other 
resolutions,  the  outline  of  the  restrictions  by  which  he  proposed  to 
limit  the  powers  of  the  regency.  The  first  resolution  of  these  five 
declared  it  expedient  to  invest  the  Prince  of  Wales  with  the  regency; 
the  second,  third  and  fourth  imposed  limitations  upon  the  regent's 
powers  of  creating  peers,  of  granting  offices,  salaries  and  pensions, 
and  of  dealing  with  the  real  or  personal  estate  of  the  crown ;  and  the 
fifth  committed  to  the  queen  the  care  of  the  king's  person,  and  the 
control  of  his  household,  with  the  advice  and  assistance  of  a  council. 
The  first  four  propositions,  after  a  warm  debate,  were  voted  on  the 
16th  of  January,  1789.  The  fifth  was  deferred  to  the  19th,  when  the 
principal  speakers  in  its  favour  were  Mr.  Pitt,  Mr.  Dundas  and  Sir 
John  Scott,  and  against  it,  Mr.  Grey,  Lord  North  and  Mr.  Fox.  A 
great  part  of  Mr.  Fox's  speech  was  in  answer  to  that  of  Sir  John 
Scott.  The  fifth  resolution,  having  been  carried  by  a  large  majority 

*  Part.  Hist.  vol.  xxvii.  p.  825. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  HI 

in  the  House  of  Commons,  was,  with  the  other  four,  agreed  to  by  the 
House  of  Lords  ;  and  the  prince,  though  not  without  some  intimation 
of  displeasure  at  the  restrictions,  consented  to  undertake  the  duties  of 
the  regency. 

In  the  debate  of  the  16th,  Lord  Belgrave,  now  Marquis  of  West- 
minster, had  introduced  into  his  speech  a  quotation  from  Demos- 
thenes, which  brought  upon  him  a  good  deal  of  banter,  first  from 
Mr.  Sheridan,  who  immediately  followed  him,  and  afterwards  from 
other  witty  Whigs,  whose  politics  the  noble  lord  was  then  opposing. 
Some  waggeries  were  published  on  the  occasion,  in  which  it  was 
pretended  that  his  quotation  had  been 


Tbv  6    drfajimSo/tfvof  rtpoaifyy  rtoSaj  iLxv$  'A^iXXf  v$* 

and  that  various  members  had  furnished  translations  of  it.  This  squib 
obtained  great  popularity.  The  translation  ascribed  to  Sir  John  Scott 
was  this  couplet:  — 

"With  metaphysic  art  his  speech  he  plann'd, 
And  said  —  what  nobody  could  understand."* 

As  there  had  been  no  opening  of  the  session  by  the  royal  person 
or  authority,  and  as,  consequently,  there  was  no  parliament  constitu- 
tionally met,  it  now  became  necessary  that  some  means  should  be 
provided  for  giving  validity  to  the  proceedings  of  the  two  Houses. 
This  the  ministers  proposed  to  do,  by  opening  Parliament  under  a 
royal  commission,  the  course  usually  taken  when  the  king  does  not 
perform  that  ceremony  in  person.  At  the  outset  of  the  debate  on  this 
subject  in  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr.  Pitt  explained  that  a  second 
commission  was  intended  to  follow,  for  giving  the  royal  assent  to  the 
proposed  regency  bill.  Lord  North,  Mr.  Burke  and  Mr.  Sheridan 
protested  against  this  mode  of  signifying  the  royal  assent  ;  while  the 
constitutional  fitness  of  such  a  course  was  maintained  by  the  master 
of  the  rolls  and  the  attorney  and  solicitor-general.  The  solicitor- 
general's  speech  was  full  and  conclusive,  both  upon  principle  and 
upon  precedent. 

"His  opponents,"  he  said,  "had  ridiculed  the  fiction  of  treating  the  annexation  of 
the  great  seal  to  a  parchment  as  a  constitutional  signification  of  the  royal  assent. 
But  the  royal  assent  would  not  be  better  realized  by  the  measure  suggested  on  the 
other  side  of  addressing  the  prince  to  assume  the  regency.  What  ministers  proposed 
was,  indeed,  a  fiction  of  law,  but  a  wholesome  fiction,  because  consistent  with  the 
substance  as  well  as  with  the  forms  of  the  constitution.  No  doubt  the  king's  per- 
sonal warrant  ought  properly  to  precede  the  annexation  of  the  great  seal  to  any 
commission:  but  any  commission,  to  which  the  great  seal  had  once  been  annexed, 
was  thereby  rendered  absolutely  unquestionable,  although  the  warrant,  or  any  other 
of  the  proper  preliminaries,  might  have  been  wanting.  The  commissions  issued 
under  the  great  seal  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.,  while  that  king  was 
an  infant,  must  have  been  without  the  sign  manual:  yet  some  of  the  most  salutary  of 
our  statutes  had  passed  during  that  period,  and  their  validity  had  never  been  disputed. 
The  great  seal,  therefore,  made  the  assent  of  the  crown  complete  in  law.  Not  so  I 
mere  agreement  of  the  prince  to  accept  the  regency;  which  agreement  could  ^carry 
no  assent  of  the  crown,  either  by  the  letter  or  by  the  spirit  of  the  constitution. 

*  "Asylum  for  Fugitive  Pieces,"  vol.  iii.  p.  87,  in  the  King's  Library,  British  Mu- 
seum: —  title,  "  PoetEe  Anglici." 


112  LIFE  OF  LORD 

These  reasonings  were  satisfactory  to  a  majority  of  the  House; 
and  the  Lords  having  come  to  a  similar  decision,  the  Parliament  was 
opened,  on  the  3d  of  February,  by  a  commission  under  the  great  seal. 

The  fiction  of  law,  upon  which  this  act  proceeded,  was  designated 
by  the  opposition  as  the  substitution  of  a  phantom  for  the  sovereign. 
This  word  "  phantom,"  which  survived,  and  "  coldly  furnished  forth" 
the  declamations  of  the  Whigs  on  the  Regency  Bill  of  1810,  was  a 
favourite  metaphor  of  Mr.  Burke  and  of  many  minor  partisans ;  and 
the  idea  conveyed  by  it  was  amplified  in  a  jeu  tfespril,  of  which  the 
following  is  an  extract : — 

"  I3f CAJTTAT1OX  FOR    HAISIXG  A  PHASTOM,  IMITATE!)    FHOM    MACHETH,  AND    LATELY    PEB- 
FOttMEI)  BT   HIS  MAJESTIES  SEUVASTS  IX  WESTMINSTER. 

Thunder:  a  Caldron  burning.    Enter  three  Wilcfics. 

1st  Witch.    Thrice  ihe  doctors  have  been  heard: 
2rf  Witch.     Thrice  the  Houses  have  conferr'd : 
3d  Wilch.     Thrice  hath  Sydney*  cock'd  his  chin: 

Jenky  j-  cries, — "  Hegin,  begin." 
1st  Witch.    Round  about  the  caldron  go; 

In  the  fell  ingredients  throw: 

Still-born  foetus,  born  and  bred 

In  a  lawyer's  puzzled  head, 

Hatch'd  by  metaphysic  Scott, 

Boil  thou  in  th'  enchanted  pot."t 

On  the  4th  of  February,  1789,  the  Regency  Bill  was  read  a  first 
time  in  the  House  of  Commons,  where,  on  the  12th,  it  was  passed. 
It  was  carried  on  the  same  day  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  was  still 
in  committee  there,  when,  on  the  19th,  the  lord  chancellor,  as  soon 
as  prayers  were  over,  informed  the  House  that  for  the  last  few  days, 
and  especially  on  that  morning,  the  reports  of  his  majesty's  health 
had  become  decidedly  favourable.  The  further  consideration  of  the 
bill  on  that  afternoon  was  therefore  postponed ;  and  the  recovery  of 
the  king  now  proceeded  so  rapidly  that  he  was  enabled  to  attend  to 
public  business  before  the  16th  of  March,  on  which  day  the  Parlia- 
ment, the  opening  whereof  had  before  been  of  necessity  imperfect, 
was  opened  by  a  commission  issued  with  all  the  due  solemnities. 

"  Lady  Eldon  told  me,"  says  her  brother,  Mr.  John  Surtees,  "  that 
George  III.,  after  his  first  malady,  sent  a  message  to  Lord  Eldon, 
then  solicitor-general,  to  call  upon  him,  I  believe,  at  Windsor.  The 
call  was  of  course  obeyed.  The  king  told  him  that  he  had  no  other 
business  with  him  than  to  thank  him  for  the  affectionate  fidelity  with 
which  he  adhered  to  him  when  so  many  had  deserted  him  in  his 
malady." 

No  piece  of  political  gossip  has  had  greater  currency  than  the 
scandal  that,  during  the  progress  of  the  Regency  Bill,  the  Lord 
Chancellor  Thurlow,  secretly  from  the  rest  of  the  king's  friends,  was 
carrying  on  a  negotiation  with  the  prince's  party  for  the  purpose  of 
continuing  himself  in  office  under  their  expected  ministry.  Mr. 

*  Lord  Sydney,  secretary  for  the  Home  Department, 
•j-  Lord  Hawkesbury,  first  Earl  of  Liverpool. 

*  "  Asylum  for  Fugitive  Pieces,"  vol.  iii.  p.  69,  ubi  suprtu 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  H3 

Fairer  having  happened,  in  a  conversation  with  Lord  Eldon,  to 
express  some  curiosity  about  a  story  so  improbable  in  itself,  and  yet 
so  generally  current,  Lord  Eldon's  answer  was,  "  I  do  not  believe 
there  was  a  word  of  truth  in  that  report."  He  has  intimated  the 
same  disbelief  in  his  Anecdote  Book,  where  he  says,  "  I  was,  at 
the  time  of  the  regency,  honoured  with  Lord  Thurlow's  intimacy. 
Scarcely  a  day  passed  in  which  there  was  not  much  interesting  con- 
versation upon  that  subject  between  Lord  Thurlow  and  the  kind's 
friends,  with  which  I  was  acquainted. — I  have  no  doubt  that  it  was 
the  opinion  of  many  of  the  king's  friends  that  it  was  very  desirable, 
for  the  king's  sake,  that  Lord  Thurlow  should  continue  chancellor, 
however  the  regency  administration  might  be  composed,  if  that  could 
be  so  arranged.  Considering  the  extreme  heat  and  bitterness  of 
parties  in  Parliament,  after  the  king  was  recovered,  it  seems  very 
extraordinary  that,  if  Lord  Thurlow's  conduct  had,  during  the  debate's 
about  the  regency,  been  dishonourable,  with  respect  to  any  object  he 
had  in  view  if  the  regency  took  place,  no  allusion  should  be  made  to 
it  in  debates,  when  he  might  have  had  an  opportunity  of  explaining 
his  views  if  his  conduct  required  explanation.'7 

During  the  whole  period  of  Sir  John  Scott's  service  as  solicitor- 
general,  he  contined  his  habits  of  personal  intimacy  with  Lord  Thur- 
low, whose  familiar  manner  the  Anecdote  Book  thus  exemplifies : — 

"  After  dinner  one  day,  when  nobody  was  present  but  Lord  Ken- 
yon  and  myself,  Lord  Thurlow  said,  '  Kenyon,  I  decided  a  cause  this 
morning,  and  I  thought,  from  the  countenance  of  Scott,  who  was 
not  counsel  in  it,  that  he  doubted  whether  I  was  right.*  Thurlow 
then  stated  what  he  represented  as  forming  the  circumstances  of  the 
case :  Kenyon  instantly  said,  '  Your  decision  was  quite  right.' — 
'What  say  you  to  that,  Scott? 'said  Thurlow.  I  said,  I  did  not 
presume  to  form  a  judgment  upon  a  case  upon  which  they  were 
agreed.  But  I  added  that  I  thought  Lord  Thurlow  had  not  men- 
tioned to  Kenyon  a  fact  which  might,  perhaps,  appear  materially  to 
affect  the  decision ;  and  I  was  about  to  state  the  fact,  and  my  reasons 
for  what  I  had  said.  Kenyon,  however,  broke  in  upon  me,  and  with 
some  warmth  stated  that  I  was  always  so  obstinate  that  there  was  no 
dealing  with  me.  f  Nay,  nay,  Taffy,'  said  Thurlow,  '  that's  not  quite 
fair — surely  nobody  is  more  obstinate  than  you  are.  But  there  is  a 
difference  between  you.  You  are  very  obstinate,  but  you  never  give 
any  reasons  for  your  obstinacy.  He  is  very  obstinate,  but  always 
gives  his  reasons ; — and,  to  say  the  truth,  they  are  generally  very  bad 
ones.  " 

The  next  two  stories  were  told  by  Lord  Eldon  to  Miss  Forster: — 

"  Lord  Thurlow  built  a  house  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London.* 
Now  he  was  first  cheated  by  his  architect,  and  then  he  cheated  him- 
self; for  the  house  cost  more  than  he  expected,  so  he  never  would 
go  into  it.  Very  foolish,  but  so  it  was.  As  he  was  coming  out  oi 
the  queen's  drawing-room,  a  lady  whom  I  knew  very  well,  stopped 

*  At  Knight's  Hill,  Norwood,  Su 
VOL.  I. — 8 


114  LIFE  OF  LORD 

him,  and  asked  when  he  was  going  into  his  new  house.  '  Madam,' 
said  he,  l  the  queen  has  just  asked  that  impudent  question :  and  as  I 
would  not  tell  her,  I  will  not  tell  you.' ' 

"  I  remember,  as  I  was  coming  away  from  that  very  drawing-room, 
in  my  full  dress  as  king's  counsel,*  (Lord  Clarendon,  then  Mr.  Vil- 
liers,  was  with  me,)  we  came  to  the  room  where  the  milliners  were 
collected  to  see  the  fashions.  Said  I,  '  Why,  Villiers,  I  think  all  the 
prettiest  women  are  here.'  One  of  the  girls,  and  a  most  amazingly 
beautiful  creature  she  was,  stood  up,  and  said  to  another,  '  I  am  sure 
that  gentleman  is  a  judge." 

In  those  days,  the  lawyers  dispatched  dinner  in  time  to  begin  their 
evening  labour  in  chambers  between  six  and  seven.  "  Dinner  hours," 
says  Lord  Eldon,  in  the  Anecdote  Book,  "  are  much  altered  within  a 
few  years.  I  remember  the  Duchess  of  Gordon  asking  Mr.  Pitt  to 
dine  with  her  at  eight  o'clock.  He  excused  himself  by  saying  that 
at  that  hour  he  was  to  sup  with  Dr.  Prettyman."  Of  late  years 
there  has  been  a  growing  tendency  towards  the  duchess's  distribution 
of  the  evening,  and  the  lawyers,  of  course,  have  conformed  to  the 
customs  of  their  clients.  Some  leading  barristers,  especially  those 
practising  in  courts  of  equity,  have  desisted,  in  ordinary,  from  cham- 
ber attendance  at  night,  employing  themselves  upon  their  papers  at 
home,  secure  from  interruption;  and  a  great  proportion  of  the  con- 
sultations, formerly  held  from  six  to  ten,  are  now  taken  from  three  to 
five  in  the  afternoon,  or  in  the  morning  before  the  sitting  of  the  courts. 
The  courts  themselves  meet  later  in  the  forenoon ;  and  the  evening 
sittings  at  the  rolls  are  now  entirely  discontinued. 

On  the  2d  of  January,  1789,  the  chair  of  the  House  of  Commons 
had  become  vacant  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Speaker  Cornwall ;  who  was 
succeeded  on  the  5th  by  the  Right  Honourable  William  Wyndham 
Grenville.  Mr.  Grenville's  acceptance  of  the  office  of  secretary  of 
state  in  the  following  June  occasioned  a  necessity  for  another  elec- 
tion of  speaker;  and  on  the  8th  of  that  month,  Mr.  Addington,  the 
late  Viscount  Sidmouth,  was  chosen  in  his  stead. 

A  work  which  was  published  in  1790,  bearing  the  title  of  "  Stric- 
tures on  Eminent  Lawyers,"  professes  to  describe  the  forensic  speak- 
ing of  Sir  John  Scott  in  those  days;  and  the  description  may  be 
deemed  a  just  one,  provided  that  the  word  "  correct,"  as  it  occurs  in 
the  first  sentence,  be  referred  to  the  style  of  his  argument,  and  not  of 
his  diction. 

"His  speaking  is  of  that  subtle,  correct  and  deliberate  kind,  that  has  more  the 
appearance  of  written  than  of  oral  eloquence.  He  branches  forth  his  arguments 
into  different  heads  and  divisions,  and  pursues  the  respective  parts  through  all  their 
various  ramifications  with  such  methodical  accuracy,  that  argument  seems  to  rise 
out  of  argument,  and  conclusion  from  conclusion,  in  the  most  regular  and  natural 
progression,  so  that  those  who  are  not  acquainted  with  his  practice  would  suspect 
that  he  had  studied  and  prepared  his  speeches  with  the  most  diligent  attention;  while 
others,  who  are  better  acquainted  with  the  business  of  the  courts,  feel  their  admira- 
tion and  surprise  increased,  from  the  knowledge  that  a  man  of  his  extensive  business, 

*  The  full-bottomed  wig  which  the  king's  counsel  wear  is  the  same  with  that  worn 
by  the  judges. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  115 

so  far  from  studying  what  he  shall  say,  can  scarce  find  time  to  glance  his  eye  over 
the  numerous  papers  that  come  before  him.  He  is  also  particularly  distinguished  for 
his  aptitude  and  ingenuity  of  reply.  His  systematic  mind  seems  to  methodize,  with 
inconceivable  rapidity,  the  arguments  of  his  opponents.  In  the  short  space  of  time 
between  the  pleadings  of  his  adversary  and  his  reply,  every  thing  seems  digested  and 
disposed,  and  his  mode  of  replication  seems  planned  in  the  nicest  order.  He  will 
frequently  take  up  the  concluding  argument  of  his  opponent,  or  at  other  times  seize 
upon  some  observation  which  has  fallen  in  the  middle  of  the  .adverse  speech.  Here 
he  will  begin  his  attack,  and  proceed  by  his  usual  clear  and  deliberate  method,  pur- 
suing one  regular  chain  of  reasoning,  till  he  has  confuted,  or  at  least  replied  to,  every 
proposition  against  him." 

"  Soon  after  I  became  solicitor-general,"  says  Lord  Eldon  in  the 
Anecdote  Book,  "his  majesty,  George  III.,  at  Weymouth,  with  the 
kindness  which  he  uniformly  manifested  to  me,  said,  '  Well,  I  hope 
your  promotion  has  been  beneficial  to  you  ?'  I  asked  his  majesty  if 
he  meant  in  professional  income?  lie  said,  'Yes,  in  that  and. in  other 
respects.'  I. told  him  what  was  strictly  true,  that  in  annual  receipt  I 
thought  I  must  lose  about  two  thousand  pounds  a  year.  He  seemed 
surprised,  and  asked  how  that  could  be  accounted  for?  I  stated  to 
him  that  the  attention  of  his  law  officers  was  called  to  matters  of 
international  law,  public  law,  and  the  laws  of  revenue  and  other 
matters,  with  which,  not  having  been  previously  familiar,  they  were 
obliged  to  devote  to  them  a  vast  deal  of  time,  and  to  withdraw  it 
from  those  other  common  matters  of  business  which  were  very  pro- 
fitable ;  and  I  concluded  by  stating  what  was  then  the  habit  of  the 
solicitors  of  the  public  offices,  to  give  the  solicitor-general  only  three 
guineas  with  his  majesty's  (the  government's)  cases,  which  required 
more  time  and  attention  fully  to  consider  and  satisfactorily  to  answer 
than  the  cases  of  private  individuals,  with  which  their  attorneys  fre- 
quently left  fees  of  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  or  twenty-five  guineas.  '  Oh !' 
said  the  king,  '  then,  for  the  first  time,  I  comprehend  what  I  never 
could  before  understand,  why  it  has  been  always  so  difficult  to  get 
any  opinions  from  my  law  officers!' ' 

A  pleasantry  of  the  solicitor-general  himself,  arising  out  of  one  of 
the  government  cases,  is  thus  related  in  his  Anecdote  Book : 

"Attending  a  cause  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  a  part  of  the  ceil- 
ing fell  down,  and  alarmed  the  judges,  counsel,  &c.  Mr.  Gryffid 
Price,  an  honest  and  excellent  but  warm  Welchman,  turned  to  me, 
and  said  in  his  familiar  way,  '  My  dear  Jack,  what  an  escape !  Who 
could  have  expected  that  we  should  all  have  been  delivered  ?'  He 
hated  a  pun,  and  particularly  a  bad  one ;  and  I  thought  nothing  could 
have  restrained  my  Welsh  friend's  wrath  when  I  said, '  My  dear  Price, 
you  make  more  than  enough  of  this.  Ought  not  you,  as  an  experi- 
enced lawyer,  to  have  been  aware  that  sealing  (ceiling)  and  delivery 
always  go  together?'  " 

There  was  a  dialogue  which  he  used  to  relate  as  having  taken  pla 
about  the  same  time,  and  which  bears  oddly  upon  his  family  name. 
A  party  in  some  cause  had  occasion  to  give  in  evidence  an  msti 
to  which  the  subscribing  witness  was  one  John  Scott.     Apphcati 
was  made  to  the  solicitor-general,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  t 
to  be  the  witness;  but  he  answered  that  the  signature  was  not 


116  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Some  time  afterwards  he  found  himself  seated  at  dinner  near  a  gentle- 
man who  claimed  to  be  his  namesake,  though  he  spelt  his  surname 
with  but  a  single  t.  In  the  course  of  conversation  the  solicitor-gene- 
ral mentioned  the  attested  instrument  and  the  ineffectual  search  which 
had  been  made  for  the  subscribing  witness.  "Oh,"  said  the  gentle- 
man, "  I  was  that  witness." — "  Well,  but,"  said  the  solicitor-general, 
"  that  witness's  name  was  spelt  with  two  £'s — Scott,  whereas  yours, 
you  have  been  saying,  is  spelt  with  only  one  t — Scot." — "  Very  true," 
said  the  other,  but  it  is  since  I  witnessed  that  paper  that  I  have 
changed  the  spelling  of  my  name  by  dropping  one  of  the  fs.  I 
allow  you,"  added  he,  in  a  strong  northern  accent,  "that  Scott  with 
two  tf's  may  sound  rounder  in  the  mouth ;  but  Scot  with  one  t  has 
more  of  quality  in  it!" 

The  occasions  on  which  the  solicitor-general  took  part  in  the 
debates  in  the  House  of  Commons  were  chiefly  where  some  legal  or 
constitutional  principle  was  in  question.  He  wras  ever  opposed  to 
the  exercise  of  parliamentary  privileges  or  powers  for  the  oppres- 
sion of  individuals.  Upon  this  ground,  among  others,  he  resisted, 
on  the  evenings  of  the  15th  and  29th  of  March,  1790,  the  proposal 
of  Mr.  Francis  for  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances 
attending  the  execution  of  the  Rajah  Mustapha  Cawn,  beheaded  by 
order  of  Captain  Williams,  in  consequence  of  directions  from  his 
commanding  officer  Colonel  Hannay,  at  whose  conduct,  in  this  and 
other  cases  of  alleged  criminality,  Mr.  Hastings  was  accused  of  hav- 
ing connived.  The  real  aim  of  the  motion  seemed  to  be  to  assail 
Mr.  Hastings  through  the  sides  of  Captain  Williams,  who  had  acted 
but  ministerially. 

"The  solicitor-general  represented  that  to  appoint  a  committee  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  up  a  case,  and  then,  perhaps,  to  institute  a  proceeding  against  Captain  Wil- 
liams for  murder,  with  all  the  weight  and  authority  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  sup- 
port of  the  prosecution,  was  a  course  subjecting  the  subordinate  officer  to  disadvan- 
tages against  which  it  was  almost  impossible  for  a  private  person  to  bear  up.  In 
cases  of  treason,  and  in  cases  of  misdemeanour,  necessity  had  founded  precedents 
for  the  institution  of  proceedings  by  the  House;  but  upon  felonies,  the  intermediate 
class  of  offences,  there  was  seldom  any  urgency  of  state  that  could  require  the  inter- 
position of  Parliament  to  set  the  courts  of  law  in  motion;  and  upon  cases  of  felony, 
therefore,  it  was  best,  unless  where  some  very  extraordinary  case  should  present 
itself,  to  abstain  from  interference  with  the  regular  tribunals.  Where  a  private  per- 
son prosecutes,  the  defendant,  on  his  acquittal,  may  recover  damages  against  his  pro- 
secutor, if  it  be  practicable  to  show  malice  and  want  of  probable  cause  in  the  prose- 
cution; but  a  defendant  prosecuted  by  the  House  has  no  such  remedy  against  his 
pursuer.  In  all  this,  the  solicitor-general  desired  to  be  understood  as  the  advocate, 
not  of  Captain  Williams,  but  of  the  constitutional  security  of  the  subject;  a  consi- 
deration infinitely  more  important  than  any  thing  personal  to  any  single  individual." 

Mr.  Francis's  motion  was  negatived. 

The  prorogation  of  Parliament,  wThich  took  place  on  the  10th  of 
June,  1790,  was  followed  by  a  dissolution :  and  Sir  John  Scott  was 
again  returned  for  Weobly.  His  brother,  Sir  William  Scott,  entered 
Parliament  at  the  same  general  election,  as  member  for  the  borough 
of  Downton  ;  for  which,  in  1784,  he  had  been  unseated  on  a  scrutiny. 

Parliament  reassembled  on  the  20th  of  November:  and  on  the  17th 
of  the  following  month,  a  question  having  arisen  wrh ether  the  impeach- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  117 

ment  of  Mr.  Hastings  had  abated  by  the  dissolution,  Mr.  Burke  moved 
a  resolution  that  it  was  still  depending.  Sir  John  Scott,  with  the 
attorney-general,  the  master  of  the  rolls  and  Mr.  Erskine,  contended 
that,  by  the  dissolution,  the  impeachment  had  abated  :  Mr.  Pitt,  Mr. 
Fox  and  Mr.  Burke  were  of  a  contrary  opinion.  After  three  nights  of 
discussion,  Mr.  Burke's  motion  was  carried  by  a  large  majority:  and 
it  is  now  the  established  law  of  Parliament  that  an  impeachment  does 
not  abate  by  a  dissolution. 

(Sir  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry.} 

Not  dated;  but  written  in  Dec.  1790. 

"  Oh  !  the  dignity  of  the  cloth  shoo!  How  hard  it  is  upon  me  that  I,  the  youngest 
and  most  temperate  and  abstemious  of  the  three  should,  the  first  of  all  the  brothers, 
arrive  to  this  dignity!  I  hope  most  heartily  you  may  escape,  because,  between  the 
pain  felt  and  the  pain  of  being  laughed  at,  the  complaint  is  quite  intolerable.  Into 
the  bargain  I  lost  half  of  my  long  vacation,  and  I  found  myself,  before  I  came  out  of 
town,  quite  knocked  up  with  the  fatigue  of  the  term  and  of  the  attendance  in  Par- 
liament, for  which  I  was  ill  prepared  by  my  sufferings.  I  stole  out  of  London,  there- 
fore, to  see  whether  I  could  get  about  again  by  retirement,  by  air  and  exercise;  and 
I  think  myself  essentially  better. 

"You  would  see  by  the  papers  how  unmercifully  we  poor  lawyers  have  been  treated 
in  the  House  of  Commons. — But  the  black  squadron,  as  we  are  called,  are  an  obsti- 
nate little  handful,  and  in  the  long  run,  in  a  right  cause,  we  shall  at  least  fall  glo- 
riously. As  to  newspaper  slander,  all  which  to  my  knowledge  is  paid  for,  I  hold  that 
cheap — and  in  spite  of  it,  I  shall  have,  at  our  next  meeting,  another  tumble  down  with 
Charles  Fox  and  William  Pitt,  who,  for  once  at  least,  agree  in  a  business  in  which 
they  are  both  wrong."* 

Until  the  year  1791,  the  deliberation  of  a  jury  on  a  prosecution  for 
libel  was  confined  to  the  two  inquiries, — whether  the  defendant  had 
published  the  matter  complained  of, — and  whether  that  matter  bore 
the  sense  imputed:  the  third,  and  generally  principal  question,  whe- 
ther the  matter  complained  of  were  or  were  not  a  libel,  having  been 
repeatedly  held  by  the  King's  Bench,  though  not  without  a  good 
deal  of  controversy,  to  be  a  pure  point  of  law  determinable  only  by 
the  court  itself.  In  May,  1791,  Mr.  Fox  introduced  a  declaratory 
bill,  affirming  the  right  of  the  jury  to  find  a  general  verdict  on  the 
whole  matter  in  issue,  including  the  question  of  "libel  or  not." 
Although  nothing  more  was  meant  by  this  bill  than  to  place  the  trial 
of  libel  on  the  same  ground  with  the  trial  of  every  other  offence  pro- 
secuted before  a  jury,  upon  which  it  is  not  only  the  right  but  the  duty 
of  the  judge  to  give  his  direction,  yet,  as  the  enactment  was  originally 
worded,  persons  unacquainted  with  law  might  perhaps  have  imagined 
that  the  legislature  had  intended  the  question  of  "  libel  or  not"  to 
be  transferred  to  the  jury  exclusively  of  the  judge.  To  prevent  such 
misapprehension,  the  solicitor-general,  in  the  committee  on  the  bill, 
proposed  that  the  preamble  should  be  modified;  but  after  a  little 
conversation  with  Mr.  Fox,  who  objected  to  the  introduction  of  the 
amending  words  into  the  preamble,  it  was  agreed  that  they  should  be 
inserted  in  the  enacting  part  of  the  bill  by  way  of  proviso,  which  was 
accordingly  done.  Lord  Thurlow  and  other  law-lords  in  the  Upper 
House  postponed  the  measure  till  the  following  year,  when  the  legis- 

•  This  refers  to  the  question  respecting  the  abatement  of  the  impeachment. 


118  LIFE  OF  LORD 

lature  passed  the  act  of  the  32d  of  Geo.  3.  c.  60,  entitled  aAn  act 
to  remove  doubts  respecting  the  functions  of  juries  in  cases  of  libel:" 
its  2d  section  being  the  useful  proviso  of  Sir  John  Scott,  expressed  in 
the  following  words : — 

"  Provided  always,  that  on  every  such  trial,  the  court  or  judge,  before  whom  such 
information  or  indictment  shall  be  tried,  shall,  according  to  their  or  his  discretion, 
give  their  or  his  opinion  and  directions  to  the  jury  on  the  matter  in  issue  between  the 
king  and  the  defendant  or  defendants,  in  like  manner  as  in  other  criminal  cases," 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  H9 


CHAPTER  X. 
1791—1793. 

Increase  of  Sir  John  Scott's  business  and  family. — Correspondence  of  Sir  John  and 
Lady  Scott,  and  of  Sir  William  Scott,  with  their  brother  Henry  and  his  wife. Anec- 
dotes of  Lord  Thurlow's  removal  from  office,  and  of  his  rivalry  with  Lord  Lou^h- 

borough. — Sir  John  Scott's  purchase  of  the  Eldon  estate. — Mr.  Burke's  dagger. 

Challenge  to  Sir  John  Scott. 

THE  increased  practice  of  the  solicitor-general  having  made  it  neces- 
sary that  he  should  enlarge  his  establishment  for  business,  he  took,  in 
the  summer  of  1791,  a  set  of  chambers  at  No.  11  Serle's  Court,  com- 
monly called  the  New  Square,  Lincoln's  Inn,  under  a  lease  to  him 
dated  the  1st  of  September  in  that  year. 

It  has  already  been  observed  that  nearly  ten  years  intervened  be- 
tween the  birth  of  John,  who  was  the  first  issue  of  his  marriage,  and 
the  birth  of  Elizabeth,  who  was  the  second.  After  the  latter  event, 
nearly  eight  years  more  elapsed  before  the  arrival  of  the  third  child, 
Edward  William  (who  took  the  former  of  those  names  from  its  god- 
father, Lord  Chancellor  Thurlow.)  This  child,  who  died  under  the 
age  of  seven  months,  was  succeeded  by  three  others,  all  born  in  less 
than  seven  years  after  him. 

The  following  letter  from  Sir  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry  is  in 
preparation  for  Lady  Scott's  then  approaching  confinement : — 

"23th  June,  1791. 
"  Dear  Harry, 

"  I  received  your  affectionate  letter,  and  my  wife  received  her  sister's  equally  affec- 
tionate letters,  some  days  ago.  I  confess  to  you  I  have  been  in  some  degree  of  un- 
happiness  upon  the  subject  of  them.  On  one  hand  I  feel  very  painfully  the  idea  of 
giving  what  it  is  utterly  impossible  not  to  be  perfectly  convinced  is,  in  a  great  and 
really  serious  degree,  trouble  so  substantial  to  you  and  my  sister,  as  the  accepting  the 
benefit  of  your  affection  must  occasion  :  on  the  other,  though  my  wife  had  fought  off 
the  idea  of  dissatisfaction  in  having  strange  doctors  and  nurses  with  much  fortitude 
till  very  lately,  (so  much  that  I  had  not  listened  to  a  similar  invitation  which  her  bro- 
ther Surtees  had  been  kind  enough  to  send  her,)  as  her  indisposition  approaches,  her 
mind  gives  way,  and  an  uneasiness  grows  upon  her,  which,  as  the  preservation  of 
her  is  of  the  last  importance  to  me,  gives  me  an  alarm  and  a  misery  which  reconcile 
me  to  the  idea  of  once  more  receiving  from  you  and  my  sister  a  favour  in  your  care  of 
her,  which  I  do  assure  you  I  have  been  most  sincerely  reluctant  to  accept,  upon  prin- 
ciples which  must  insure  to  you  my  gratitude,  if  it  is  accepted,  in  any  way  in  which 
I  can  express  it.  With  unceasing  and  with  extreme  reluctance,  and  I  hope  with 
gratitude  proportionable  to  both,  after  thinking  some  days  very  anxiously  upon  hardly 
any  thing  else,  I  have  determined  to  avail  myself  of  your  goodness. 

"The  season  for  her  indisposition  will  be  about  the  middle  of  August,  and  i 
medical  advice  is  that  she  should  leave  this  place  in  about  ten  days,  and  be  aboi 
or  seven  upon  her  journey.    If,  therefore,  you  hear  nothing  to  the  contrary,  you  and 
my  sister  will  be  good  enough  to  expect  her.    Bessy  will  come  with  her." 


120  LIFE  OF  LORD 

(Sir  John  Scott  to  Mrs.  Henry  Scott.') 

"  London,  4th  October,  1791. 
"  Dear  Sister, 

"  I  persuade  myself  you  will  do  me  the  justice  to  believe  that  I  should  have  been 
happier  than  I  am,  if  one  cause  or  other  had  not  prevented  me  so  long  from  thanking 
you  for  all  your  goodness  to  me  and  mine  whilst  I  was  with  you,  and  since  I  have 
left  you.  If  I  do  not  say  much  more  upon  the  subject  of  that  goodness,  it  is  because 
I  know  that  the  disposition  which  is  inclined  to  do  others  so  much  service,  will  not 
be  unwilling  to  believe  that  those  who  receive  it  will  gratefully  think  of  it  and  remem- 
ber it.  I  do  not  know  how  I  should  have  supported  myself  from  the  Wednesday 
to  the  Saturday  morning,  when  I  could  first  hear  from  you,  if  I  had  been  deprived  of 
the  comfort  of  recollecting  that  my  poor  invalid  was  sure  of  the  tenderest  and  most 
anxious  care.  I  observe  the  trouble  you  must  have  had,  in  several  instances  of  kind 
attention,  which  your  letters,  for  which  I  most  sincerely  thank  you,  in  describing  Lady 
S.'s  situation  from  time  to  time,  necessarily  introduce  to  my  knowledge.  I  sincerely 
hope  that  your  own  health  will  not  suffer  in  consequence  of  your  care  of  another 
person's." 

******** 

(Sir  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry.) 

"7th  October,  1791. 

******** 
"  We  have  no  news  except  what  you  will  see  in  the  papers.    Lord  Cornwallis,  as 
you  would  see  when  you  were  picking  your  bone,  talks  of  difficulties;  but  I  rather 
suspect  that  is  to  make  the  victory  he  suspects  himself  to  be  pretty  sure  of,  more 
illustrious." 

(From  Lady  Scott,  afterwards  Lady  Eldon,  to  Mrs.  Henry  Scott.) 

No  date:  probably  written  in  October  or  November,  1791. 

******** 

"I  must  say  I  have  one  of  the  best  husbands  in  the  world,  for  I  have  received  four- 
and-twenty  letters  since  I  left  Newcastle;  every  stage  I  come  to,  I  am  presented  with 
two,  three  or  four.  In  one  I  received  yesterday,  he  says  that  whatever  business  come 
in  the  way  that  may,  'a  hint  from  you,  that  you  wish  me  to  come  to  you,  will  bring 
me  immediately.'  My  dear  girl  joins  me  in  love  to  my  dear  sister,  brother  and  dear 
Mary. 

"  I  remain  your  affectionate  sister, 

"  ELIZ.  SCOTT." 

(Sir  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry  .) 

"  London,  22<J  Dec.  1791. 
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

"I  am  very  sorry  for  your  family  affliction  which  you  mention.*  God  knows, 
Harry,  the  tenure  by  which  we  hold  life  is  very  uncertain,  and  the  importance  which 
the  well-being  of  those  we  love  is  of  to  our  well-being,  and  our  well-being  is  to  them, 
is  then  deeply  felt  when  we  are  about  to  lose  one  another.  But  we  can  do  no  more 
than  to  discharge  the  duty  of  taking  all  the  care  of  them  and  of  ourselves,  as  far  as 
health  is  concerned,  which  morality  and  religion  require  we  should  take  of  them  and 
of  ourselves,  and  the  event  must  be  submitted  to  the  providence  of  HIM  who  knows 
best  what  is  expedient  for  us. 

******** 
"  At  this  season  let  me  add  my  most  fervent  wishes  for  the  health  of  you  all.  We  are 
all  crazy  constitutions,  but  I  am  persuaded  that,  if  we  take  but  moderate  care  of  our 
health,  we  may  live  many  happy  years  together.   That  you  and  they  may  enjoy  many 
is  the  sincere  wish  of, 

"Yoars,  most  affectionately, 

"J.  SCOTT." 
(Sir  William  Scott  to  Mr.  Henry  Scott.) 

"London,  20th  April,  1792. 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"I  just  write  this  note  to  acquaint  you  with  the  unexpected  death  of  my  brother's 
infant  boy,  which  happened  in  a  convulsive  fit,  at  four  o'clock  this  morning:  the 

«  The  death  of  Mrs.  Wilson,  sister  of  Mrs.  Henry  Scott. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  121 

inoculation  had  been  favourable  enough  in  its  symptoms  before,  and  there  was  all 
the  reason  in  the  world  to  expect  that  he  would  have  gone  well  through. 

"You  will  easily  conceive  the  agonies  of  grief  that  the  poor  mother  is  in.    What 
makes  it  more  calamitous  is,  that  my  brother  dares  not  go  near  the  house,  on  account 
of  his  own  apprehensions  of  the  small-pox.    The  office  of  supporting  her  of  course 
devolves  upon  my  wife  and  myself,  and  we  shall  not  be  inattentive  to  it. 
"  I  shall  write  soon  upon  business.    I  am,  with  love,  &c.  &c. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"  W.  SCOTT." 

The  session  of  1792,  during  which  the  solicitor-general  had  taken 
little  part  in  any  debate,  was  closed  by  a  prorogation  on  the  15th  of 
June :  and  on  the  same  day,  his  old  ally,  Lord  Thurlow,  gave  up  the 
great  seal,  which  was  transferred  to  Lord  Loughborough.  "  What 
it  was,"  said  Lord  Eldon  in  after  life  to  Mr.  Farrer,  "  that  occasioned 
the  rupture  between  Lord  Thurlow  and  his  colleagues,  I  cannot  tell 
you :  I  never  could  find  out."  The  public,  during  the  session  of  1792, 
had  witnessed  and  with  no  small  surprise,  the  vehement  invectives 
poured  forth  by  Lord  Thurlow  in  the  House  of  Peers,  upon  two  of 
Mr.  Pitt's  measures,  the  Sinking  Fund  Bill,  and  the  New  Forest 
Bill :  and  these  attacks  may  have  been  the  proximate  cause  of  the 
chancellor's  removal;  but  the  motive  which  provoked  them  has  never 
become  matter  of  history. 

"  I  called  upon  Sir  John  Scott,"  says  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  John 
Surtees,  "a  few  days  after  Lord  Thurlow  had  ceased  to  be  chancel- 
lor, when  Sir  John  Scott  gave  me  the  following  narrative.  He,  at 
that  time  solicitor-general,  had  received  a  message  from  Mr.  Pitt, 
to  beg  that  he  would  call  upon  him.  He  called  accordingly.  Mr. 
Pitt  said,  '  Sir  John  Scott,  I  have  a  circumstance  to  mention  to  you 
which,  on  account  of  your  personal  and  political  connection  with  Lord 
Thurlow,  I  wish  that  you  should  first  hear  from  myself.  Lord  Thur- 
low and  I  have  quarreled ;  and  I  have  signified  to  him  his  majesty's 
commands  that  he  should  resign  the  great  seal.'  Sir  John  Scott 
replied  that  he  was  not  at  all  surprised  at  the  event  which  had  taken 
place ;  that  he  had  long  looked  forward  to  the  probability  of  such  an 
event  with  great  pain  ;  and  he  then  added,  '  My  resolution  is  formed. 
I  owe  too  great  obligations  to  Lord  Thurlow  to  reconcile  it  to  myself 
to  act  in  political  hostility  to  him,  and  I  have  too  long  and  too  con- 
scientiously acted  in  political  connection  with  you,  to  join  any  party 
against  you.  Nothing  is  left  for  me  but  to  resign  my  office  as  soli- 
citor-general, and  to  make  my  bow  to  the  House  of  Commons.'  Mr. 
Pitt  reasoned  with  him,  and  implored  him  not  to  persist  in  that  reso- 
lution, in  vain  ;  but  at  length  prevailed  upon  him  to  consult  Lord 
Thurlow  before  he  proceeded  any  farther.  Lord  Thurlow,  after  Sir 
John  Scott  had  stated  what  had  passed  between  Mr.  Pitt  and  him, 
said,  '  Scott,  if  there  be  any  thing  which  could  make  me  regret  what 
has  taken  place,  (and  I  do  not  repent  it,)  it  would  be  that  you  should 
do  so  foolish  a  thing.'  Lord  Thurlow  continued,  'I  did  not  think 
that  the  king  would  have  parted  with  me  so  easily.  As  to  that  other 
man,  he  has  done  to  me  just  what  I  should  have  done  to  him,  if  I 
could.'  His  lordship  added,  'It  is  very  possible  that  Mr.  Pitt,  from 


122  LIFE  OF  LORD 

party  and  political  motives,  at  this  moment  may  overlook  your  pre- 
tensions ;  but  sooner  or  later  you  must  hold  the  great  seal.  I  know 
no  man  but  yourself  qualified  for  its  duties.'  Lord  Thurlow  rea- 
soned and  prevailed,  and  Sir  John  Scott  fortunately  continued  to  hold 
his  official  situation,  and  to  act  with  his  wonted  cordiality  with  Mr. 
Pitt." 

In  this  change  of  office  the  bitterest  circumstance  to  Lord  Thurlow 
probably  was,  that  Lord  Loughborough  became  his  successor.  For 
Lord  Thurlow  most  cordially  hated  his  rival,  holding  him  cheap  as  a 
lawyer,  yet  fearing  him  as  a  ready  and  popular  opponent  in  debate. 
Lord  Eldon  used  to  relate  that,  on  one  occasion,  when  Lord  Lough- 
borough  was  speaking,  with  considerable  effect,  about  a  matter  on 
which  Lord  Thurlow  had  a  strongly  adverse  opinion,  but  which  he  had 
not  studied  in  sufficient  detail  to  be  prepared  for  refuting  his  ingeni- 
ous opponent,  Lord  Thurlow,  as  he  sat  on  the  woolsack,  was  heard 
to  mutter,  "  If  I  was  not  as  lazy  as  a  toad  at  the  bottom  of  a  well,  I 
could  kick  that  fellow  Loughborough  heels  over  head  any  day  in  the 
week!" 

In  the  Anecdote  Book,  Lord  Eldon  says,  "  George  the  Fourth  told 
me,  as  another  instance  of  his  (Thurlow's)  contempt  of  Loughborough 
as  a  lawyer,  that  Thurlow  told  him,  when  prince,  that  the  fellow  had 
the  gift  of  the  gab  in  a  marvellous  degree,  but  that  he  was  no  lawyer, 
and  added,  '  In  the  House  of  Lords  I  get  Kenyon  or  somebody  to 
start  some  law  doctrine  in  such  a  manner  that  the  fellow  must  get  up 
to  answer  it,  and  then  I  leave  the  woolsack,  and  give  him  such  a 
thump  in  his  bread-basket  that  he  cannot  recover  himself." 

But  another  of  Lord  Eldon's  anecdotes  of  the  rivalry  between  those 
two  great  law-lords,  turns  the  laugh  very  fairly  against  the  scorner : — 

"  Lord  Thurlow,  who  had  a  thorough  contempt  of  Lord  Lough- 
borough as  a  lawyer,  shortly  after  the  latter  had  become  chancellor, 
in  conversation  said  to  me,  '  What  do  you  think  that  fellow  has  been 
doing  ?  He  has  been  making  one  of  the  lads,  one  of  the  king's  sons, 
a  peer  of  Ireland  under  his  great  seal,  not  under  the  7mA  great  seal. 
Did  you  ever  hear  of  such  a  thing  as  that  ?'  I  answered,  '  Yes,  I  cer- 
tainly have.  I  have  known  instances  of  it.'  '  Have  you?'  he  said  : 
1  What  instances?'  I  answered,  '  Lord  Thurlow  did  the  same  as  to 
some  of  the  older  lads  of  the  family  when  he  was  chancellor.'  'What 
do  you  mean ?  Did  I?  It  can't  be  so!'  The  fact,  however,  was  so ; 
and  it  will  be  found  that  some  of  the  ancient  Irish  peerages  were 
granted  under  the  English  great  seal." 

The  succeeding  passage  is  also  from  the  Anecdote  Book : 

"After  Lord  Thurlow  was  removed  from  his  office  of  lord  chancellor, 
during  which  he  enjoyed  so  much  of  the  confidence  of  King  George 
the  Third,  the  Prince  of  Wales  seems  to  have  cultivated  his  friendship 
as  much  as  possible,  and,  upon  all  occasions,  requested  his  advice, 
though  not  often  acting  according  to  it.  Upon  Macmahon's  waiting 
upon  him  (from  the  prince)  upon  some  occasion,  to  request  his  advice 
upon  some  matter  that  was  thought  important,  Thurlow  said,  '  Tell 
the  prince  I  am  always  ready  to  offer  his  royal  highness  the  best  ad- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  123 

vice  I  am  able  to  give  him — and  that  I  observe  that  his  royal  highness 
is  always  ready  to  ask  it;  but  that  it  may  be  as  well  to  know,  before 
I  give  it,  whether  there  is  any  body  that  means  to  follow  it.' ' 

"  Southward  of  Howledge,"  says  Hutchinson,  in  his  History  of  the 
County  Palatine  of  Durham,  "  lies  the  village  of  Eldon,  on  a  lofty 
situation.  This  is  one  of  the  places  given  to  the  church  of  Durham 
by  Canute  on  his  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Cuthbert."  It  was 
in  later  time,  according  to  Hutchinson,  a  part  of  the  possessions  of  the 
Nevilles.  Sir  John  Scott  now  became  the  purchaser  of  this  estate, 
from  which  he  afterwards  took  the  title  of  his  barony  and  of  his  earl- 
dom. The  conveyance  to  him  is  dated  the  28th  of  July,  1792.  The 
property  conveyed  was  the  manor  of  Eldon,  and  upwards  of  1300 
acres  of  land,  arable,  meadow  and  pasture,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Andrew 
Auckland,  in  the  Darlington  ward  of  the  county  palatine  of  Durham. 
The  purchase-money  was  22,000/.:  and  the  vendor,  Frances  Gordon, 
was  the  widow  of  John  Gordon,  son  and  representative  of  William 
Viscount  Kenmure  and  Lord  Lochinvar,  who  was  beheaded  on  Tower 
Hill  in  February  1716.  The  information  which  follows  is  from  the 
present  Earl  of  Eldon : — 

"  Sir  John  Scott  was  an  improving  landlord,  and,  for  several  years 
from  the  time  of  the  purchase,  expended  the  whole  rents  of  Eldon 
on  the  estate,  whereby  its  value  was  eventually  much  increased. 
That  part  of  the  country,  which  originally  presented  a  barren  and 
bleak  appearance,  is  now  greatly  beautified  by  his  judicious  planta- 
tions. When  asked  by  me  what  had  induced  him  to  select  this  pro- 
perty for  an  investment,  Lord  Eldon  answered  that  '  he  thought,  as 
he  did  not  require  a  residence,  and  had,  therefore,  no  object  in  the 
selection  of  any  particular  locality  with  that  view,  he  might  as  well 
let  the  chancellorship  of  Durham  throw  its  weight  into  the  scale,' — 
which  decided  him  to  make  the  purchase  of  Eldon,  situated  in  the 
southern  part  of  that  county."* 

The  progress  of 'the  French  Revolution  had  detached  from  the 
party  of  Mr.  Fox  a  considerable  number  of  eminent  men.  Among  the 
seceders  was  Mr.  Burke,  whose  celebrated  exhibition  of  a  dagger  in 
the  House  of  Commons  is  mentioned  in  the  following  letter : — 

(Sir  John  Scott  to  his  brother  Henry.) 

"  London,  llth  January,  17T3. 

"  I  think  the  constitution  of  old  England  has  a  chance  to  weather  the  storm  some- 
what longer  than  was  probable  last  October.  But  vigilance  must  not  be  relaxed :  for 
there  is  great  industry  still  exerting,  at  least  in  this  seat  of  sin,  to  do  and  to  create 
mischief.  You  would  hear  of  the  dagger  which  Burke  exhibited  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  I  have  got  the  pattern  specimen  of  that  order,  which  I  shall  keep  as  a 
great  curiosity.t 

•NOTE  BT  THE  PRESENT  EARL. — It  appears,  from  an  inspection  of  the  title-deeds 
relating  to  the  manor  and  lands  of  Eldon,  that  on  the  3d  of  May,  1745,  Lord  Chancel- 
lor Hardwicke  (who,  having  held  the  great  seal  for  twenty  years,  was  the  next  longest 
lay  holder  of  it  to  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon,)  purchased  a  portion  of  the  Eldon  property. 
It  consisted  of  a  fee-farm  rent  of  42/.  15s.  9$rf.,  and  was  conveyed  from  the  Hardwicke 
family  to  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon. 

•(-NOTE  BTTHK  PRESENT  EARL.— In  Prior's  "Life  of  Burke"  (1824,  p.  416,)  it  is 
related  that,  in  the  debate  of  the  28th  of  December,  1792,  "on  the  second  reading  of 


124  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"You  may,  perhaps,  have  seen  by  the  papers,  that  I  have  been  tempted  to  the  use 
of  the  pistol  lately,  by  a  worthy  person  who  has  found  out,  in  the  year  1792,  that  I 
abused  him  in  a  speech  in  1786,  and  which  he  never  complained  of  before,  though  he 
heard  me  make  it,  and  I  have  been  his  counsel  in  all  his  causes  ever  since.  The  truth 
is,  three  courts  thought  his  conduct  so  bad  that  they  made  him  pay  a  young  man,  of 
whom  they  declared  he  had  taken  undue  advantage,  about  17,000/.  and  all  costs,  and 
the  fellow  is  fool  enough  to  suppose  he  can  retrieve  his  character  by  insulting  me.  I 
have  acted  at  the  written  request  of  about  a  dozen  very  honourable  people,  in  all  I 
have  done  and  all  I  have  declined  to  do.  The  thing  has  given  me  a  deal  of  plague, 
but  I  hope  it  will  be  over  soon." 

The  troublesome  person  mentioned  in  this  letter  was  a  member  of 
Parliament  named  Mackreth.  Sir  John  Scott,  by  the  advice  of  his 
friends  at  the  bar,  declined  to  meet  such  an  antagonist  in  the  way 
proposed,  and  put  a  stop  to  the  annoyance  by  an  appeal  to  the  law. 
The  challenger  was  convicted  of  a  breach  of  the  peace,  and  sentenced 
by  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  in  the  following  May,  to  six  weeks' 
imprisonment,  and  a  fine  of  100/. 

the  Alien  Bill,"  "Mr.  Burke,  in  mentioning  that  an  order  for  making  3000  daggers  had 
arrived  some  time  before  at  Birmingham,  a  few  of  which  had  been  actually  delivered, 
drew  one  from  under  his  coat,  and  threw  it  indignantly  on  the  floor."  But  Prior  says 
nothing  respecting  the  manner  in  which  the  dagger  came  into  Burke's  hands.  On 
Lord  Chancellor  Eidon's  death  I  found  with  his  papers  the  dagger  which,  from  con- 
versations with  him  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  I  had  understood  to  be  the  one 
thrown  down  by  Burke  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

Being,  however,  informed  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  that  he  had  seen,  in  the 
possession  of  the  late  Sir  James  Bland  Burgess,  a  similar  dagger  considered  to  be 
the  identical  one  used  by  Burke,  I  made  further  inquiries  of  his  son,  Sir  Charles 
Montolieu  Lamb,  on  the  subject  of  my  doubts,  which  were  confirmed  on  reference  to 
the  letter  in  the  text. 

At  the  period  of  this  speech  of  Burke,  Sir  James  Bland  Burgess  (then  Mr.  Burgess) 
was  member  for  Helston,  and  under-secretary  of  state  for  the  foreign  department; 
and  I  am  indebted  to  Sir  Charles  Lamb's  kindness  for  the  following  account  of  the 
circumstances  respecting  the  dagger,  which  he  has,  and  which  clearly  is  the  identical 
one  used  by  Burke,  and  which,  like  the  one  formerly  in  Lord  Chancellor  Eidon's 
possession  and  now  in  mine,  is  a  foot  long  in  the  blade,  and  about  five  inches  in  the 
handle,  of  coarse  workmanship,  and  might  serve  either  for  a  dagger  or  a  pikehead. 

"The  history  of  it,"  says  Sir  Charles,  "is,  that  it  was  sent  to  a  manufacturer  at 
Birmingham,  as  a  pattern,  with  an  order  to  make  a  large  quantity  like  it.  At  that 
time  the  order  seemed  so  suspicious  that,  instead  of  executing  it,  he  came  to  London 
and  called  on  my  father  at  the  secretary  of  state's  office,  to  inform  him  of  it  and  ask 
his  advice;  and  he  left  the  pattern  with  him.  Just  after  Mr.  Burke  called,  on  his  way 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  upon  my  father  mentioning  the  thing  to  him,  borrowed 
the  dagger  to  show  in  the  House.  They  walked  down  to  the  House  together,  and 
when  Mr.  Burke  had  made  his  speech,  ray  father  took  the  dagger  again,  and  kept  it 
as  a  curiosity,'' 


CHANCELLOR  ELIX>N,  125 


CHAPTER  XL 
1793—1794. 

Sir  John  Scott  appointed  attorney-general. — State  of  the  country. — Traitorous  corre- 
spondence bill. — Prosecution  of  Frost:  principle  for  the  discretion  of  a  law  odicer. 
— Stockbridge  disfranchisement  bill. — Convictions  of  Messrs.  Muir  and  Palmer 
for  sedition  in  Scotland. — Mr.  Sheridan's  motion  against  the  solicitation  of  volun- 
tary supplies:  "previous  question.-"  its  meaning  and  use:  answer  of  the  attorney- 
general:  story  told  by  Mr.  Fox — Lord  Thurlow's  sarcasm  on  the  attorney-general. 
— Duke  of  Sussex's  first  marriage. — The  attorney-general's  pleasantry  upon  Lord 
Thurlow. 

EARLY  in  1793,  the  promotion  of  the  attorney-general,  Sir  Archi- 
bald Macdonald,  to  the  office  of  lord  chief  baron  of  the  exchequer, 
made  room  for  the  solicitor-general,  who,  by  patent  dated  February 
13th,  1793,  became  attorney-general.  His  seat  being  thus  again 
vacated,  a  new  writ  was  issued  on  that  day,  and  he  was  re-elected  for 
Weobly  on  the  20th.  Sir  John  Mitford,  afterwards  Lord  Redesdale, 
succeeded  him  as  solicitor-general. 

It  was  in  a  season  of  no  common  difficulty  and  anxiety  that  Sir  John 
Scott  entered  upon  his  new  office.  In  the  beginning  of  the  year,  the 
King  of  France  had  been  put  to  death  by  his  subjects,  and  the  French 
minister  at  the  court  of  St.  James's  had  been  directed  by  the  British 
government  to  quit  this  country;  and,  in  February,  a  message  to  the 
two  Houses  of  Parliament  had  acquainted  them  with  his  majesty's 
declaration  of  war  against  France.  The  worst  principles  of  the  revo- 
lutionary agitators  had  been  studiously  propagated  on  this  side  of  the 
Channel:  and  the  republican  clubs  of  Paris  were  in  immediate  com- 
munication with  various  societies  in  England  and  Scotland.  At  such 
a  crisis,  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  government  not  only 
should  possess  firmness  to  exercise  the  constitutional  powers  of  the 
crown,  but  should  enjoy  so  fully  the  confidence  of  Parliament  as  to 
be  capable  of  calling  with  effect  for  any  legislative  assistance  which 
might  be  necessary  to  cut  off  treasonable  intercourse  and  suppress 
domestic  sedition.  The  knowledge,  the  courage  and  the  judgment, 
required  in  such  circumstances  from  the  law  officers  of  the  crown, 
were  never  more  eminently  combined  than  in  the  newly-appointed 
attorney-general. 

Among  the  most  mischievous  dealings  between  England  and  France 
was  obviously  the  supply  of  arms,  stores,  provisions,  clothing,  bul- 
lion and  other  sinews  of  war,  to  the  revolutionary  leaders  at  Paris. 
In  the  reigns  of  William  and  Mary,*  and  of  Anne, f  the  legislature  had 

»  3  W.  &M.  ch.  13. 

f  3  &  4  Anne,  ch.  13.— in  the  common  editions,  ch.  14. 


126  LIFE  OF  LORD 

specially  interfered  for  the  temporary  prevention  of  traffic  in  the  mili- 
tary and  naval  stores,  by  the  penalties  of  high  treason;  and,  upon  the 
principle  of  the  acts  so  passed,  the  British  government  now  sought  to 
establish,  during  the  existing  war,  a  penal  measure  of  the  same  kind, 
remitting,  however,  the  incidence  of  forfeiture  and  corruption  of  blood. 
Again,  among  the  principal  means  on  which  the  French  relied  for 
defraying  the  cost  of  their  hostilities,  was  the  disposal  of  the  confis- 
cated estates ;  and  thus  the  prevention  of  any  British  investment  in 
purchases  or  mortgages  of  French  lands,  became  an  object  of  two- 
fold importance,  as  it  would  abridge  the  enemy's  means  of  hostility, 
and  as  it  would  withhold  British  subjects  from  becoming  interested  in 
the  enemy's  territory.  The  British  government,  therefore,  proposed  to 
render  every  investment  in  the  lands  or  public  funds  of  the  enemy  an 
act  of  high  treason.  On  the  same  principle  of  preventing  a  British 
interest  in  hostile  property,  the  marine  insurance  of  ships  or  goods 
belonging  to  the  enemy  was  treated  by  the  government  of  England  as 
inconsistent  with  good  policy ;  and  still  more  the  insurance  of  warlike 
stores  and  provisions  on  their  voyage  to  the  enemy's  dominions,  who- 
soever might  be  the  owner.  These  transactions  it  was  proposed  to 
prohibit  under  pain  of  imprisonment ;  and  the  same  kind  of  penalty 
was  held  out  against  the  transit  of  British  subjects  to  or  from  the  do- 
minions of  France,  except  under  special  license  from  the  crown.  But 
as  it  was  at  first  thought  expedient,  with  respect  to  the  treasons  con- 
stituted by  this  act,  that  they  should  not  involve  forfeiture  or  corrup- 
tion of  blood,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  originally  intended  that 
the  defendant  should  not  enjoy  the  peculiar  protections  allowed  (in 
treasons  involving  those  extreme  penalties)  by  the  statutes  of  7  Wm. 
3.  chap.  3,  and  7  Anne,  chap.  21,  which  require  the  offence  to  be 
proved  by  the  oath  of  two  witnesses,  and  entitle  the  defendant  to  full 
defence  by  counsel,  to  a  copy  of  his  indictment  and  to  other  advan- 
tages. 

The  preparation  of  a  bill  for  the  effectuation  of  these  several  ob- 
jects was  devolved  upon  the  attorney-general,  who,  accordingly,  on 
the  15th  of  March,  1793,  introduced  to  the  House  of  Commons  the 
measure  generally  known  by  the  name  of  the  Traitorous  Correspond- 
ence Bill. 

It  was  met  by  Mr.  Fox  and  his  party  in  both  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment with  the  most  vehement  resistance.  They  represented  it  as 
brought  forward  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  spread  a  false  alarm. 
The  attorney-general,  they  said,  had  not  ventured  to  prosecute  a 
single  individual  for  any  offence  against  the  allegiance  of  a  British 
subject;  and  yet  the  country  was  defamed  as  being  in  a  state  to 
require  an  aggravation  of  the  treason  laws.  The  attempt  at  prevent- 
ing the  supply  of  arms  and  stores  would  be  a  futile  one  ;  because 
prohibitions  upon  any  trade  were  always  found  unavailing  against  a 
large  profit.  The  particular  prohibition  suggested  in  this  bill  was 
more  especially  injurious,  in  that  it  denounced  the  penalties  of  high 
treason,  not  only  against  the  actual  supply  of  contraband  stores,  but 
even  against  the  bare  agreement  for  supplying  them ;  and  it  was  con- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON. 

trary  to  the  true  principles  of  criminal  jurisprudence  thus  to  place 
inchoate  and  complete  crimes  in  the  same  degree.  The  statute  of 
frauds  forbids  any  suit  upon  a  verbal  agreement  for  a  sale  of  more 
than  101.  value:  and  yet  this  bill  would,  upon  such  mere  agreement, 
deprive  a  man  of  his  life :  and  this,  too,  on  the  evidence  of  a  single 
witness,  since  the  ordinary  protections,  requiring  two  witnesses  in 
trials  for  high  treason,  were  not  intended  to  attach.  The  prohibition 
to  lay  out  money  in  French  lands  or  funds  was  a  violation  of  that 
right  to  dispose  of  property,  which  in  every  free  country,  is  consi- 
dered as  deserving  the  highest  protection  of  the  law.  As  far  as  the 
French  funds  were  concerned,  there  were  these  two  peculiar  objec- 
tions to  the  prohibition ;  first,  that  it  would  be  retaliated  by  France, 
so  as  to  drive  all  French  capital  out  of  the  funds  of  England ;  and 
secondly,  that  the  French  government  would  be  gainers,  and  not 
losers,  by  any  measure  which  should  have  the  effect  of  forcing  French- 
men to  employ  their  capital  in  their  own  funds.  If  new  treason  laws 
were  now  to  be  enacted,  they  ought,  at  all  events,  to  be  accompanied 
writh  the  same  protections  which  were  given  in  other  cases  of  treason, 
by  the  statutes  of  7  W.  3.  ch.  3.  and  7  Anne,  ch.  21.  The  non-in- 
fliction of  forfeiture  and  of  corruption  of  blood,  under  the  present  bill, 
was  no  valid  reason  for  withholding  those  protections  :  for  in  other 
cases  of  treason,  although  the  penalties  of  forfeiture  and  corruption  of 
blood  were  no  longer  to  exist  after  the  death  of  the  Pretender's  last 
surviving  issue,  the  Cardinal  of  York,  the  protections  were  to  continue 
permanent.  And  it  was  material  to  consider,  that  the  words  by  \vhich 
this  bill  proposed  that  it  should  be  treason  in  any  of  the  king's  sub- 
jects to  do  the  acts  thereby  forbidden,  included  the  king's  subjects  in 
Ireland,  upon  whom  the  British  Parliament  had  no  right  to  exercise 
its  legislation.  The  prohibition  against  an  Englishman's  returning  to 
his  own  country  was  pre-eminently  monstrous  ;  it  was  to  give  the  king 
a  power  of  banishing,  for  the  whole  continuance  of  the  war,  any 
British  subject  in  France.  The  prohibition  of  insurance  was  less 
important,  but  it  was  impolitic ;  because  the  clear  profit  of  the  under- 
writer, which  was  the  excess  of  the  premium  beyond  the  actual  value 
of  the  risk,  was  just  so  much  gained  to  the  country  granting  the  in- 
surance. 

To  these  arguments  it  was  answered  by  the  attorney-general  and 
other  members  of  the  government,  that  the  original  precedent  of  this 
bill,  the  statute  of  3  W.  &  M.,  was  made  in  the  most  constitutional 
days  of  British  history,  and  would  be  the  safest  guide  in  this  perilous 
time.  A  certain  degree  of  constraint  might  be  necessary  for  the  pre- 
servation of  liberty  itself,  as  men  besieged  would  sometimes  volun- 
tarily cut  off  all  external  communication,  and  actually  imprison  them- 
selves for  their  own  safety.  The  acts  proposed  to  be  prohibited  were 
to  be  measured,  not  by  their  moral  turpitude,  but  by  their  present 
tendency  to  injure  the  community.  There  was  no  valid  analogy  in 
reasoning  from  civil  actions  to  criminal  prosecutions.  The  clause 
prohibiting  the  purchase  of  lands  was  a  new  one,  but  it  was  called 
for  by  the  peculiarity  of  the  conjuncture.  The  confiscated  estates  of 


128  LIFE  OF  LORD 

proprietors  driven  into  exile  were  now  the  main  fund  of  the  French 
government ;  the  terms  on  which  the  land  was  offered  were  the  most 
advantageous,  and  yet  there  were  no  purchasers  in  France ;  so  that 
to  foreign  capital  alone  could  the  revolutionary  leaders  look  for  means 
of  carrying  on  the  war.  And  with  reference  to  the  soil  and  to  the 
funded  securities  of  France,  as  well  as  to  the  maritime  insurance  of 
her  property,  it  was  desirable,  at  such  a  juncture,  to  prevent  British 
subjects  from  becoming  in  any  way  mixed  up  with  her  interests. 

The  exemption  from  forfeiture  and  corruption  of  blood  appearing 
to  several  members  an  insufficient  ground  for  excluding  the  protec- 
tions provided  for  defendants  in  high  treason  by  the  statutes  7  W.  3. 
ch.  3.  and  7  Anne,  ch.  21.,  the  exemption  was  struck  out,  and  the 
bill  made  to  include  all  the  penalties,  and  carry  with  it  all  the  pro- 
tections which  are  incident  to  high  treason  in  general.  The  objec- 
tion as  to  Ireland  was  met  by  confining  the  operation  of  the  measure 
to  offenders  in  Great  Britain;  and  the  clause  which  made  it  an 
offence,  punishable  writh  imprisonment,  for  an  Englishman  to  return 
to  his  own  country  without  license,  was  given  up,  although  in  the 
statute  3  W.  &  M.  such  a  return  had  been  subjected  to  the  penalty 
of  imprisonment,  and  in  the  statute  of  3  &  4  Anne  to  the  penalties  of 
high  treason. 

With  these  modifications,  the  bill  passed  into  a  law,  under  the 
title  of  "An  act  more  effectually  to  prevent,  during  the  present  war 
between  Great  Britain  and  France,  all  traitorous  correspondence 
with,  or  aid  or  assistance  being  given  to  his  majesty's  enemies:"  33 
Geo.  3,  ch.  27.  It  expired,  like  each  of  the  acts  on  which  it  was 
founded,  with  the  war,  to  which  it  was  made  applicable;  but  the 
attorney-general's  immediate  connection  with  it,  and  the  importance 
which  attaches  to  the  whole  series  of  these  temporary  acts  as  a  class 
of  precedents  in  war,  have  been  considered  to  require  this  digest  of 
its  character,  chief  contents  and  history. 

Some  degree  of  public  excitement  had  been  occasioned  by  the 
prosecution  which  the  preceding  attorney-general,  Sir  Archibald  Mac- 
donald,  had  instituted  against  Thomas  Paine,  at  the  close  of  1792, 
for  his  notorious  work,  The  Rights  of  Man.  In  the  beginning  of 
1793,  a  grand  jury  of  the  county  of  Middlesex  found  a  bill  of  in- 
dictment for  seditious  words  against  another  politician  of  the  same 
sort,  an  attorney  named  John  Frost.  As  Sir  Archibald  Macdonald, 
by  whom  this  indictment  likewise  was  originally  preferred,  had  been 
raised  to  the  bench  before  it  came  on  for  trial,  the  discretion  of  con- 
tinuing or  discontinuing  the  prosecution  devolved  on  his  successor, 
Sir  John  Scott :  and  he  resolved  to  persevere.  Of  this  case,  which 
was  tried  on  the  27th  of  May,  1793,  the  circumstances  were  shortly 
that,  on  the  evening  of  the  6th  of  the  November  preceding,  Frost, 
who  had  been  dining  with  a  party  at  the  Percy  Coffee  House,  came 
into  the  public  coffee-room,  and  that,  being  there  asked  by  an  ac- 
quaintance who  knew  that  he  had  lately  returned  from  France,  how 
matters  went  on  in  that  country,  Frost  answered,  "  I  expect  soon  to 
go  there  again :  I  am  for  equality :  I  can  see  no  reason  why  any  man 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  129 

should  not  be  upon  a  footing  with  another :  it  is  every  man's  birth- 
right." That  he  was  asked  what  he  meant  by  equality:  to  which  he 
answered,  "Why,  I  mean  no  king.  The  constitution  of  this  country 
is  a  bad  one."  That  there  was  then  a  strong  expression  of  displea- 
sure from  the  persons  present;  upon  which  a  gentleman  got  him  to 
the  door,  and  induced  him  to  go  out.  It  was  intimated  by  Mr. 
Erskine  for  the  defence,  that  the  evidence  was  given  in  breach  of 
the  confidence  of  private  life,  and  that  Sir  John  Scott  was  persisting 
in  the  prosecution,  not  because  it  had  his  own  approbation,  but  be- 
cause it  had  been  devolved  upon  him  by  his  predecessor. — "  I  pro- 
test," said  Sir  John  Scott,  in  his  reply, — 

"I  protest  against  that  doctrine,  that  the  attorney-general  of  England  is  bound  to 
prosecute,  because  some  other  set  of  men  choose  to  recommend  it  to  him  to  prose- 
cute, he  disapproving  of  that  prosecution.  He  has  it  in  his  power  to  choose  whether 
he  will  or  not,  and  he  will  act  according  to  his  sense  of  duty.  Do  not  understand  me 
to  be  using  a  language  so  impertinent  as  to  say,  that  the  opinions  of  sober-minded 
persons  in  any  station  in  life,  as  to  the  necessity  that  calls  for  a  prosecution,  ought 
not  deeply  to  affect  his  judgment.  But  I  say  it  is  his  duty  to  regulate  his  judgment 
by  a  conscientious  pursuance  of  that  which  is  recommended  to  him  to  do;  and  if  any 
thing  is  recommended  to  him  which  is  thought  by  other  persons  to  be  for  the  good  of 
the  country,  but  which  he  thinks  is  not  for  the  good  of  the  country,  no  man  ought  to 
be  in  the  oliice  who  would  hesitate  to  say, «  My  conscience  must  direct  me,  your 
judgment  *hall  not  direct  me.'  And  I  know  I  caa  do  this:  I  can  retire  into  a  situa- 
tion in  which  I  shall  enjoy  what,  under  the  blessings  of  that  constitution  thus  reviled, 
is,  perhaps,  the  best  proof  of  its  being  a  valuable  constitution — I  mean  the  fair  fruits 
of  a  humble  industry,  anxiously  and  conscientiously  exercised  in  the  fair  and  honour- 
able pursuits  of  life.  I  state,  therefore,  to  my  learned  friend  that  I  cannot  accept 
that  compliment  which  he  paid  me,  when  he  supposed  it  was  not  my  act  to  bring  this 
prosecution  before  you,  because  it  was  not  vehat  I  myself  could  approve.  Certainly 
this  prosecution  was  not  instituted  by  me;  but  it  was  instituted  by  a  person  whose 
conduct,  in  the  humane  exercise  of  his  duty,  is  well  known,  and  I  speak  in  the  pre- 
sence of  many  who  have  been  long  and  often  witnesses  to  it:  and  when  it  devolved 
upon  me  to  examine  the  merits  of  this  prosecution,  it  was  my  bounden  duty  to  ex- 
amine, and  it  was  my  bounden  duty  to  see  if  this  was  a  breach  of  the  sweet  con- 
fidences of  private  life.  If  this  was  a  story  brought  from  behind  this  gentleman's 
chair  by  his  servants,  I  can  hardly  figure  to  myself  the  case  in  which  the  public 
necessity  and  expediency  of  a  prosecution  should  be  so  strong  as  to  break  in  upon 
the  relations  of  private  life.  But  is  this  prosecution  to  be  so  represented?  When  a 
man  goes  into  a  coffee-room,  who  is,  from  his  profession,  certainly  not  ignorant  of 
the  respect  which  the  laws  of  his  country  require  from  him  as  much  as  from  any 
other  man,  and  when  he  in  that  public  coffee-house  (provided  it  was  an  advised 
speaking),  uses  a  language,  which  I  admit  it  is  clear,  upon  the  evidence  given  you  to 
day,  provoked  the  indignation  (if  you  please  so  to  call  it)  of  all  who  heard  it — when 
persons,  one,  two,  three  or  more,  come  to  ask  him  what  he  meant  by  it — when  he 
gives  them  the  explanation,  and  when  he  makes  the  offensive  words  still  more  offen- 
sive by  the  explanation  that  he  repeatedly  gives— will  any  man  tell  me,  that  if  he  goes 
into  a  public  coffee-house,  whether  he  comes  into  it  from  up  stairs,  or  whether  he 
poes  into  it  from  the  street,  that  he  is  entitled  to  the  protection  that  belongs  to  the  con- 
fidences of  private  life,  or  that  it  is  a  breach  of  the  duties  that  result  out  of  the  con- 
fidences of  private  life  to  punish  him!"* 

The  jury  pronounced  the  defendant  guilty. 

The  27th  of  May  produced  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
upon  the  bill  for  preventing  bribery  and  corruption  in  the  elections  at 
Stockbridge.  This  was  one  of  a  series  of  attempts  at  throwing  open 
the  right  of  voting  in  particular  boroughs  to  more  numerous  constitu- 

*  22  Howcll's  Slate  Trials,  pp.  510,  51 1. 
VOL.  I. 9 


130  LIFE  OF  LORD 

encics,  on  the  ground  of  abuses  committed  by  considerable  numbers 
of  the  existing  electors.  To  this  bill,  as  well  as  to  the  other  attempts 
of  a  like  nature,  which  were  made  from  time  to  time  till  the  passing 
of  the  Reform  Act  in  1832,  the  great  lawyer,  who  is  the  subject  of 
these  memoirs,  was  steadfastly  adverse. 

The  ground-work,  he  observed,  was  the  report  of  an  election  committee,  before 
•which  tribunal  the  individual  voters  implicated  had  no  opportunity  of  defending 
themselves.  Such  a  bill  was,  moreover,  a  bill  of  pains  and  penalties,  an  ex  pout  facto 
law;  and  he  was  not  willing  to  punish  any  man's  offence  by  a  law  which  did  not 
exist  when  that  offence  was  committed.  If  such  bills  were  favoured  merely  as  steps 
to  parliamentary  reform,  it  would  be  more  manly  and  more  consonant  with  the  gene- 
ral principles  of  justice  to  bring  in  at  once  a  direct  measure  for  reforming  the  repre- 
sentation, than  to  attempt  that  object  by  means  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  England  and 
to  every  idea  of  sound  jurisprudence. 

On  a  division,  the  Stockbridge  Bill  was  thrown  out. 

The  revolutionary  poison,  distributed  by  the  French  republicans, 
had  now  begun  to  operate  extensively  among  that  ever-irritable  class 
of  the  public,  whom  idleness,  ignorance,  a  violent  temper,  and  a 
shallow  understanding,  predispose  to  receive,  with  willing  ears,  the 
"  leprous  distilment."  A  time,  therefore,  was  considered  by  the 
government  to  have  arrived,  when  the  safety  of  the  state  required 
prosecutions  which  should  involve  heavier  consequences  than  those 
attaching  under  the  English  law  to  mere  sedition.  The  first  experi- 
ments were  made  in  Scotland,  the  courts  of  law  in  that  part  of  the 
kingdom  having  then  unrestricted  power  (since  reduced  by  6  Geo.  4. 
ch.  47,)  to  visit  sedition  with  the  penalty  of  transportation.  Accord- 
ingly, Mr.  Muir,  of  Hunter's  Hill,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Fysshe  Palmer, 
being  severally  convicted  of  this  offence,  (the  former  before  the  High 
Court  of  Justiciary  in  Edinburgh,  in  the  month  of  August,  1793,  and 
the  latter  in  the  September  of  the  same  year,  before  the  Circuit  Court 
of  Justiciary  at  Perth,)  were  sentenced  to  transportation,  Mr.  Muir  for 
fourteen  years,  and  Mr.  Palmer  for  seven.  These  judgments,  which, 
though  they  may  not  have  exceeded  the  necessity  of  the  case,  were 
startling  to  those  acquainted  only  with  the  mild  tenour  of  the  English 
law,  produced  much  animadversion  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament. 
After  several  motions,  on  all  of  which  the  government  had  been  up- 
held by  large  majorities,  Mr.  Adam,  on  the  25th  of  March,  1794, 
moved  for  a  committee  to  revise  the  law  of  Scotland,  and  the  powers 
and  process  of  her  courts  in  matters  of  this  nature ;  but  was  strongly 
opposed  by  the  attorney-general,  who  relied  on  the  compact  of  the 
union,  and  vindicated  the  principle  of  discretionary  punishment ;  and 
the  proposed  committee  was  refused.  The  question  was  finally  set  at 
rest  by  a  resolution,  which  the  Lord  Chancellor  Loughborough  moved 
and  carried  in  the  House  of  Lords,  "  that  there  is  no  ground  for  inter- 
fering in  the  practice  of  the  established  courts  of  criminal  justice,  as 
administered  under  the  constitution,  and  by  which  the  rights,  liberties 
and  properties  of  all  ranks  of  subjects  are  protected." 

Another  constitutional  question  was  mooted  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons on  the  28th  of  March,  when  the  attorney-general  resisted  a 
resolution,  moved  by  Mr.  Sheridan,  "  That  it  is  a  dangerous  and  un- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  131 

constitutional  measure  for  the  executive  government  to  solicit  money 
from  the  people,  as  a  private  aid,  loan,  benevolence,  or  subscription, 
for  public  purposes,  without  the  consent  of  Parliament." 

Mr.  Sheridan  complained,  that  application  had  been  made  through  the  secretary  of 
state  to  the  lords-lieutenants  of  counties,  to  promote  a  subscription  among  the  people, 
not  within  the  control  or  cognizance  of  Parliament, — and  this,  even  while  Parliament 
was  sitting.  Such  a  levy,  he  contended,  was  contrary  to  the  principles  of  a  repre- 
sentative constitution,  inconsistent  with  good  and  ancient  usages,  and  in  itself  unfit 
as  a  source  of  revenue. 

The  attorney-general  met  this  motion  by  what  is  called  "  the  pre- 
vious question,"  This  does  not  mean,  as  is  very  commonly  supposed, 
that  question  which,  on  the  list  of  notices  or  orders  of  the  day,  may 
happen  to  stand  immediately  previous  to  the  motion  thus  resisted ;  but 
means  simply  the  question,  whether  it  be  the  pleasure  of  the  House 
that  the  resisted  motion  be  put  to  the-  vote  at  all.  It  is  chiefly  where 
the  resisted  motion  goes  to  affirm  some  proposition,  which,  though 
true,  it  may  not  be  seasonable  to  assert,  or  upon  which,  from  its  ab- 
stract nature,  the  expression  of  a  parliamentary  opinion  may  be  im- 
prudent or  superfluous,  that  the  previous  question,  viz.,  whether  such 
resisted  motion  shall  be  put  to  the  vote  at  all,  is  found  a  useful  form 
of  procedure.  The  House  is  then  protected  by  it  from  committing 
itself  to  indiscreet  generalities ;  while  the  individual  members  who 
vote  that  the  resisted  motion  shall  not  be  put,  are  understood  as  not 
concluding  themselves  with  respect  to  its  merits,  or  to  the  determi- 
nation they  might  have  given  upon  it  if  it  had  been  suffered  to  go  to 
a  direct  division. 

In  proposing,  on  this  occasion,  to  substitute  the  previous  question  for  the  abstract 
resolution  moved  by  Mr.  Sheridan,  the  attorney-general  demonstrated,  from  legal  and 
from  historical  authorities,  ancient  as  well  as  modern,  that  voluntary  aids  are  strictly 
consonant  both  with  the  principles  and  with  the  practice  of  the  British  constitution; 
and  pointed  out,  that  although  Mr.  Fox's  friends,  the  Lords  Camden  and  Ashburton, 
had,  in  1778,  when  opposed  to  the  government,  been  adverse  to  the  opening  of  a  sub- 
scription for  the  American  war,  yet,  in  1782,  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  Fox  and  Lord  Shel- 
burne,  of  which  the  two  noblemen  before-mentioned  were  members,  had  issued  cir- 
cular letters,  in  which  subscriptions  were  recommended  for  the  augmentation  of  the 
means  of  national  defence. 

Mr.  Fox  replied,  that,  having  collected  from  Mr.  Pitt's  intimations  on  a  former  night 
some  intention  on  the  part  of  ministers  to  charge  him  with  inconsistency, he  had  been 
curious  to  learn  by  whom  the  charge  was  to  be  brought.  The  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer,  himself  obnoxious  to  such  imputations,  was  not  likely  to  undertake  the 
service.  "I  was  pretty  certain,  therefore,"  continued  Mr.  Fox,  "that  this  charge  of 
inconsistency  must  come  from  some  young  member:  as  a  young  member  would  be 
the  least  liable  to  have  the  charge  of  inconsistency  retorted  upon  him.  The  contest, 
for  some  time,  upon  whom  this  duty  should  fall,  seemed  to  lie  between  ayoung  mem- 
ber (Mr.  Jenkinson)  and  the  learned  gentleman  who  made  the  motion,  and  who, 
though  not  a  young  member,  is  young  in  respect  of  the  transactions  of  which  he  has 
taken  upon  himself  to  spealc.  It  would  have  been  an  objecc  of  amusement  to  have 
had  a  view  of  the  divan,  when  consulting  who  was  fittest  person  to  discharge  this 
important  duty.  It  puts  me  in  mind  of  a  ridiculous  story,  which  I  shall  take  the  liberty 
to  relate: — An  Englishman,  in  a  French  lodging,  being  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the 
language  of  the  people,  and  having  occasion  for  the  assistance  of  the  maid,  could 
discover  no  other  way  of  expressing  his  ideas  but  by  calling  for  la  pucelle.  The 
women  in  the  house  were  in  a  dreadful  dilemma,  on  hearing  this  demand  repeatedly 
enforced;  and  at  length  a  girl  of  seven  years  of  age  was  presented  to  the  traveller, 
as  best  answering  the  description  of  the  person  he  required.  In  conformity  to  this 


132  LIFE  OF  LORD 

rule,  the  virgin  purity  of  the  learned  attorney-general  was  pitched  upon  by  the  minis- 
ter, to  expose  political  prostitution  and  inconsistency."* 

The  vote  being  taken  upon  the  previous  question,  the  House 
decided,  by  a  large  majority,  that  Mr.  Sheridan's  motion  should  not 
be  put;  and  a  similar  fate  attended  a  similar  motion,  made  on  the 
same  evening,  by  the  Earl  of  Lauderdale,  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

As  Sir  John  Scott's  reputation  increased,  the  Prince  of  Wales 
became  curious  to  learn  the  real  merits  of  a  lawyer  so  highly  esti- 
mated by  his  party  and  by  the  public.  "I  should  like  to  hear  your 
opinion  of  him,"  said  the  prince  to  Lord  Thurlow.  "Sir,"  said 
Lord  Thurlow,  "  I  know  him  to  be  a  very  sound  lawyer,  and  a  very 
honest  man."  In  after  times,  when  it  devolved  upon  Lord  Eldon, 
as  the  chancellor  of  George  the  Third,  to  take  part  in  proceedings 
distasteful  to  the  prince,  his  royal  highness  said  tauntingly  to  Lord 
Thurlow,  "  What  think  you  now,  my  lord,  of  your  old  friend  Scott, 
whom  you  puffed  to  me  as  a  sound  lawyer,  and  an  honest  man?"- 
"Indeed,  sir,"  answered  Thurlow,  whose  advanced  age  had  abated 
neither  his  convenient  courtliness  nor  his  jocular  coarseness,  "  I  think 
he  has  lost  the  little  law  he  once  had,  and  is  become  a  very  great 
scoundrel." 

In  the  next  story,  the  triumph  is  with  Sir  John  Scott.  The  Anec- 
dote Book  relates  it  thus :  — 

"After  the  Duke  of  Sussex  had  married  Lady  Augusta  Murray, 
which  marriage  was  in  law  void  because  the  king  had  not  consented 
to  it,  the  whole  transaction  was  examined  into  before  the  privy-coun- 
cil. The  lady's  mother  was  much  questioned  by  Lord  Thurlow, 
with  a  view  of  proving  that,  her  daughter  being  much  older  than  the 
duke,  the  young  man  had  been  taken  in.  She  could  not,  however, 
recollect  what  her  daughter's  age  was.  It  seemed  singular  that  banns 
should  be  published,  where  one  of  the  parties  was  of  the  royal 
family,  and  that  the  clergyman  publishing  the  banns  should  not  be 
struck  upon  the  reading  of  the  name  ;  it  appeared,  however,  that  in 
the  parish  there  were  many  of  the  name  (I  think  Augustus  Frederick) 
by  which  he  was  called  in  the  publication. — Then,  great  blame  was 
imputed  to  the  rector  for  publishing  the  banns  without  inquiry  as  to 
the  residence  of  the  parties  in  the  parish :  so  it  was  proposed  to  call 
upon  the  clergy  of  the  church,  St.  George's,  Hanover  Square,  to 
account  for  the  marriage  having  taken  place  by  banns  without  the 
proper  residence  of  the  party  in  the  parish,  and  without  their  knowing 
the  parties.  The  rector  first  appeared:  he  said  he  had  two  most 
respectable  curates,  and  he  had  always  most  solemnly  enjoined  them 
not  to  marry  parties  without  having  first  inquired  about  their  residence. 
The  curates  were  th«n  examined,  and  they  said  theirs  was  a  most 
respectable  parish  clerk,  who  wore  a  gown,  and  they  had  always  most 
solemnly  given  a  like  injunction  to  him.  The  clerk  was  then  called, 
and  he  declared  that  no  man  in  the  parish  had  a  more  excellent,  care- 
ful wife  than  he  had,  and  that  he  daily  gave  her  most  solemnly  a  like 

*  31  Parl.  Hist.  pp.  112,  113. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  133 

injunction.  She  then  made  her  appearance,  and  said  that  she  must 
sometimes  be  about  her  own,  and  not  about  parish  business ;  but  that 
she  had  two  female  servants,  as  discreet  as  any  in  the  parish,  and 
she  had  always  given  them  a  like  solemn  injunction,  when  any  body 
brought  a  paper  about  publication  of  banns  in  her  and  her  husband's 
absence,  to  make  proper  inquiries  about  the  parties'  residence.  All 
this  put  Lord  Thuiiow  out  of  humour,  and  he  then  said  to  me  angrily, 
1  Sir,  why  have  you  not  prosecuted,  under  the  act  of  Parliament,  all 
the  parties  concerned  in  this  abominable  marriage?'  To  which  I 
answered,  '  That  it  was  a  very  difficult  business  to  prosecute — that 
the  act,  it  was  understood,  had  been  drawn  by  Lord  Mansfield,  and 
Mr.  Attorney- General  Thiirlow,  and  Mr.  Solicitor-General  Wedder- 
burne,  and  unluckily  they  had  made  all  parties  present  at  the  marriage 
guilty  of  felony ;  and  as  nobody  could  prove  the  marriage  except  a 
person  who  had  been  present  at  it,  there  could  be  no  prosecution, 
because  nobody  present  could  be  compelled  to  be  a  witness.'  —  This 
put  an  end  to  the  matter.  Afterwards  there  was  a  suit  in  the  Com- 
mons, and  the  marriage  was  there  declared  void." 


134  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XII. 
1794. 

Revolutionary  societies. — Message  to  Parliament. — Suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus 
Act. — Prosecutions  of  Hardy  and  others  for  high  treason:  indictment:  counsel. 
— Trial  of  Hardy.— Outline  of  facts. — Speeches  of  the  attorney-general,  Mr.  Er- 
skine,  Mr.  Gibbs  and  the  solicitor-general :  summing  up  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. 
—State  of  public  feeling  and  danger  of  the  attorney-general:  verdict  of  acquittal. — 
Trial  and  acquittal  of  the  Rev.  J.  Home  Tooke. — Temper  and  conduct  of  the  attor- 
ney-general and  Mr.  Erskine:  humour  of  Mr.  Tooke. — Trial  and  acquittal  of  Thel- 
•wall. — Discontinuance  of  the  remaining  prosecutions. — Lord  Eldon's  vindication  of 
his  own  course. 

THE  convictions  of  Mr.  Muir  and  Mr.  Palmer  had  been  followed 
by  the  separate  trials  and  convictions  of  three  other  Scotch  agitators, 
—  Mr.  Skirving  and  Mr.  Margaret  in  January,  1794,  and  Mr.  Gerald 
in  March  of  the  same  year,  —  who  were  all  sentenced  to  fourteen 
years'  transportation.  But  these  examples  in  Scotland,  though  useful 
in  that  country,  were  quite  ineffectual  to  repress  seditious  movement 
in  the  southern  part  of  Great  Britain,  where  the  maximum  of  punish- 
ment was  so  much  lower.  Political  societies  were  assembling  in 
formidable  numbers  throughout  England,  ostensibly  for  the  object  of 
working  a  reform  in  the  parliamentary  representation  of  the  people, 
but  really  with  a  view,  on  the  part  of  their  most  active  leaders,  to  the 
substitution  of  a  republican  for  a  monarchical  policy.  The  first  prin- 
ciples of  government  had  not  been  made  the  subjects  of  popular 
excitement  since  that  great  conflict  between  royalist  and  democratic 
opinions,  which  terminated  in  the  restoration  of  Charles  the  Second : 
and  the  theories  of  revolution  were  now  revived  with  a  zeal  and 
activity  proportioned  to  the  length  of  time  during  which  they  had 
been  dormant.  The  principal  seats  of  the  new  associations  were  the 
commercial  and  manufacturing  towns,  where  large  bodies  could  be 
congregated  at  short  notices  and  on  frequent  occasions.  The  people 
so  confederated  were  chiefly  of  the  lower  ranks,  men  dissatisfied  with 
the  existing  distribution  of  the  world's  goods,  —  the  orators  and  other 
leaders  among  them  persuading  themselves  that  their  talents  merited 
a  wider  and  more  lucrative  sphere  of  action,  —  and  the  hearers  and 
followers  in  general  hoping  to  catch,  by  a  scramble,  what  they  had 
not  patience  to  earn  by  regular  industry.  The  higher  classes  endea- 
voured to  stem  the  mischief  by  a  counter- association  against  republi- 
cans and  levellers ;  but  this  had  little  influence :  and  the  government 
now  decided  to  institute  in  England  measures  corresponding,  as  nearly 
as  the  difference  of  laws  and  circumstances  would  permit,  with  the 
policy  pursued  in  Scotland.  Accordingly,  on  the  12th  of  May,  1794, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  135 

a  royal  message  was  brought  to  the  House  of  Commons  by  Mr.  Dun- 
das,  then  secretary  of  state  for  the  home  department,  acquainting  the 
House  that  his  majesty  had  received  information  of  seditious  prac-^ 
tices  carried  on  by  corresponding  societies,  directed  to  the  assem- 
blage of  a  general  convention,  and  tending  to  the  mischiefs  already 
prevalent  in  France ;  that  the  books  and  papers  of  those  societies  in 
London  had  consequently  been  seized ;  that  his  majesty's  directions 
had  been  given  to  lay  them  before  the  House:  and  that  his  majesty 
recommended  it  to  Parliament  to  consider  them  and  take  the  necessary 
measures  of  precaution  and  defence.  On  the  following  day  the  books 
and  papers  were  presented,  and  referred  to  a  secret  committee  of 
twenty-one  members,  who  made  their  first  report  on  the  16th.  The 
circumstances  detailed  in  that  paper  were  considered  by  ministers  to 
be  of  a  nature  requiring  the  immediate  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act:  and  on  the  same  evening,  therefore,  a  bill  to  that  effect 
was  proposed  by  Mr.  Pitt,  in  a  motion  wherein  he  gave  an  outline  of 
the  leading  facts  contained  in  the  report : 

A  plan,  he  said,  had  been  concocted,  having  for  its  object  a  convention  of  the  peo- 
ple, which  was  to  supersede  the  representative  capacity  of  that  House,  and  arrogate 
the  whole  legislative  power  to  itself.  Reform  had  been  made  the  pretext  of  the  soci- 
eties conducting  this  design,  but  was  far  from  being  their  true  object.  Their  sys- 
tem, which  had  been  for  two  years  in  preparation,  was  founded  on  the  modern  and 
monstrous  doctrine  of  the  Rights  of  .Man — that  doctrine  which  had  wrought  the 
destruction  of  France  and  the  confusion  of  all  Europe.  The  societies  in  England  had 
sent  delegates  to  the  National  Convention  in  Paris;  had  continued  to  act  with  the 
Jacobin  faction,  and  to  follow  its  forms  and  proceedings,  even  after  its  declaration  of 
hostilities  against  this  country;  and  had  pursued  a  settled  design  to  disseminate  its 
pernicious  principles:  for  which  purpose,  as  the  report  would  show,  a  list  had  been, 
prepared  by  them,  of  towns  containing  large,  ignorant  and  restless  multitudes,  likely 
to  concur  in  the  proposed  designs,  and_  to  spread  them  by  branch  societies.  In  par- 
ticular, the  agitators  had  corresponded  with  the  British  Convention  at  Edinburgh, 
had  taken  up  the  cause  of  its  legally  convicted  members,  and  had  expressly  made 
the  condemnation  of  those  guilty  persons  the  signal  for  coming  to  the  issue,  whether 
they  should  yield  to  the  law  or  oppose  it  by  insurrection.  Still  stronger  was  that  part 
of  the  case  which  related  to  a  society  in  London,  mean  in  talent  and  education,  yet 
formidable  in  proportion  to  that  very  meanness — a  society  already  containing,  in  the 
metropolis,  no  fewer  than  thirty  divisions  of  several  hundred  persons  each,  corre- 
sponding with  other  associations  among  the  discontented  population  of  the  manufac- 
turing tosvns;  and  assuming  a  power  to  prescribe  limits,  beyond  which,  if  Parliament 
presumed  to  pass,  the  termination  of  its  very  existence  was  threatened.  Meanwhile 
arms  had  been  procured  and  extensively  distributed.  Now  although,  in  his  judgment, 
the  designs  of  the  conspirators  were  not  likely  to  have  succeeded,  they  were  mis- 
chievous enough  to  require  instant  precaution:  and  the  resource  he  would  propose 
at  present  was  a  bill  for  the  temporary  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  as  to 
persons  suspected  of  conspiracy  against  the  crown. 

Mr.  Fox,  Mr.  Grey,  Mr.  Sheridan  and  other  Whig  members  resisted 
this  proposal,  which  was  supported  by  Mr.  Burke  and  the  attorney- 
general.  The  bill  was  brought  in  and  carried  in  the  same  sitting, 
after  repeated  divisions,  through  all  its  stages  except  the  third  reading, 
which  was  adjourned  to  the  following  afternoon,  that  of  Saturday  the 
17th.  The  debate  and  divisions  upon,  and  arising  out  of,  the  third 
reading,  occupied  the  house  till  three  o'clock  on  the  Sunday  morning, 
when  the  bill  passed.  On  the  Monday  it  was  read  a  first  time  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  on  Thursday  the  22d,  it  was  carried  through  its 
remaining  stages  there,  against  a  vehement  though  not  numerous 


136  LIFE  OF  LORD 

body  of  opponents.  Its  title  was,  "An  act  to  empower  his  majesty 
to  secure  and  detain  such  persons  as  his  majesty  shall  suspect  are 
conspiring  against  his  person  and  government:"  and  it  provided  that 
parties  apprehended  on  such  suspicion,  under  warrant  from  the  privy- 
council,  might  be  detained  in  custody  until  the  1st  of  February,  1795.* 

So  extensive  was  the  combination  against  which  the  government 
had  now  resolved  to  direct  the  powers  of  the  law,  that  the  whole  of 
the  summer  was  required  in  preparing  the  cases  selected  for  prosecu- 
tion, and  in  marshaling  the  process  against  the  various  confederates. 
On  the  10th  of  September,  the  special  commission  was  issued  for  the 
trials  of  these  offenders.  It  was  opened  on  the  2d  of  October,  and 
on  the  6th  a  true  bill  for  high  treason  was  returned  by  the  grand  jury 
against  twelve  men : — Thomas  Hardy,  shoemaker;  John  Home  Tooke, 
clerk;  Steward  Kyd,  Esq.;  John  Augustus  Bonney,  Jeremiah  Joyce, 
Thomas  Wardle,  Thomas  Holcroft,  John  Richter,  Matthew  Moore 
and  John  Thelwall,  gentlemen  ;  Richard  Hodgson,  hatter ;  and  John 
Baxter,  labourer.  A  thirteenth,  John  Lovett,  was  indicted;  but 
against  him  the  bill  was  ignored. 

The  crime  with  which  Hardy  and  his  fellow-prisoners  stood  charged 
in  the  indictment  was  that  of  high  treason  in  compassing  the  death  of 
the  king.  This  compassing  of  the  king's  death  wras  alleged  as  the 
substantive  treason ;  and  the  overt  acts  of  this  compassing,  that  is, 
the  acts  done  in  prosecution  of  the  design,  were,  as  charged  in  the 
indictment,  nine  in  number ;  the  first  four  relating  to  the  assembling 
of  a  convention  for  the  subversion  of  the  government  and  deposition  of 
the  king ;  the  fifth,  seventh  and  eighth  relating  to  a  conspiracy  for 
subverting  the  government  and  deposing  the  king  without  any  allega- 
tion respecting  a  convention  ;  and  the  sixth  and  ninth  relating  to  a 
conspiracy  to  levy  war  against  the  king  within  the  realm.  These 
overt  acts  may  be  individually  abstracted  thus: — 1.  Consenting  and 
conspiring  to  procure  a  convention  for  traitorously  subverting  the 
legislature  and  government  and  for  deposing  the  king.  2.  Writing 
and  publishing  books  and  papers  which  contained  incitements  to  the 
king's  subjects  to  send  delegates  to  such  traitorous  convention.  3. 
Consulting  upon  the  assembling  of  such  traitorous  convention,  and 
the  manner,  time  and  place  of  holding  it,  and  the  means  of  inducing 
the  king's  subjects  to  send  delegates  thereto.  4.  Agreeing  that  Home 
Tpoke  and  others  of  the  prisoners  (of  whom  Hardy  was  not  one), 
with  three  other  persons  (not  included  in  the  indictment),  should  meet, 
confer  and  co-operate  for  assembling  such  traitorous  convention.  5. 
Causing,  and  agreeing  to,  a  provision  of  arms,  for  forcibly  opposing  the 
king  in  the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  realm,  and  for  forcibly  and  trai- 
torously subverting  the  legislature  and  government,  and  for  aiding  to 
depose  the  king.  6.  Meeting,  conspiring  and  consulting  to  levy  war 
against  the  king  within  the  realm.  7.  Meeting,  conspiring  and  consulting 
traitorously  to  subvert  the  legislature  and  government,  and  to  depose 
the  king.  8.  Preparing,  composing,  publishing  and  dispensing  books 

*  34  Geo.  3.  ch.  54. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  137 

and  papers  which  contained  incitements  to  the  king's  subjects  to  assist 
in  such  traitorous  subversion  and  deposition,  and  instructions  to  them, 
how,  where  and  on  what  occasions  the  traitorous  purposes  last  aforesaid 
might  be  effected.  9.  and  last,  Providing,  and  agreeing  to  provide, 
arms,  to  levy  war,  insurrection  and  rebellion  against  the  king  within 
his  kingdom. 

o 

On  the  25th  of  October,  the  prisoners  having  been  arraigned  and 
having  pleaded  not  guilty,  the  attorney-general  announced  that,  as 
their  counsel  desired  they  might  be  separately  tried,  he  would  pro- 
ceed first  on  the  trial  of  Hardy;  which  was  then,  at  the  request  of  his 
counsel,  adjourned  to  Tuesday  the  28th. 

On  that  day,  at  the  Sessions  House  in  the  Old  Bailey,  the  trial 
began.  The  counsel  for  the  crown,  with  Sir  John  Scott,  then  attorney- 
general,  were  Sir  John  Mitford,  then  solicitor-general,  Serjeant  Adair, 
Mr.  Bearcroft,  Mr.  Bower,  Mr.  Law,  Mr.  Garrow  and  Mr.  Wood. 
Hardy  was  defended  by  Mr.  Erskine  and  Mr.  Gibbs,  with  whom,  as 
assistant  counsel,  were  Mr.  Dampier,  Mr.  Felix  Vaughan,  and  Mr. 
Gurney.* 

The  signal  importance  of  the  case,  the  extraordinary  length  of  time 
which  it  occupied,  and  the  great  responsibility  which  it  imposed  on 
the  attorney-general,  seem  to  require  that,  in  any  biographical  account 
of  him,  some  outline  should  be  attempted  of  the  main  question  of  fact 
and  of  law,  wlych  were  raised  by  the  trial.  His  opening  speech 
occupied  nine  hours  ;  and,  that  the  reader  may  the  better  understand 
its  grounds,  the  order  of  the  actual  proceeding  has,  in  the  following 
pages,  been  so  far  inverted,  that  the  summary  of  the  principal  facts 
established  by  the  evidence  is  here  presented  before  the  abstract  of 
the  opening  speech. 

The  prisoner,  Hardy,  was  secretary  of  an  association  called  the 
London  Corresponding  Society,  which,  in  the  spring  of  1792,  received 
its  constitution  from  Mr.  Home  Tooke.  Its  professed  object  was 
parliamentary  reform:  which  was  declared,  (in  one  of  its  fundamental 
resolutions,  signed  by  Hardy,  and  distributed  gratis,)  to  be  impracti- 
cable until  the  abolition  of  all  partial  privileges.  The  spirit  of  that 
resolution  will  be  sufficiently  understood  from  the  nature  of  the  defi- 
nitions which  it  laid  down:  for  instance:  "  Subject:  Can  only  with 
propriety  be  applied  to  a  member  of  a  state  whose  government  has 
been  instituted  by  foreign  conquest,  or  the  prevalence  of  a  domestic 
faction. — Republican:  One  who  wishes  to  promote  the  general  welfare 
of  his  country," — &c.  &,c. 

On  the  13th  of  July,  Hardy  and  five  other  members  recommended 
by  the  society  for  that  purpose,  were  admitted  as  associated  members 
of  another  similar  body,  calling  itself  the  Society  for  Constitutional 
Information.  These  societies  held  correspondence  and  connection,  or, 

*  Mr.  Law,  afterwards  Lord  Ellenborough.Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England:  Mr.  Gar- 
row  and  Mr.  Wood,  afterwards  barons  of  the  Exchequer:  Mr.  Erskine,  afterwards 
Lord  Erskine  and  Lord  Chancellor:  Mr.  Gibbs,  afterwards  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Common  Pleas:  Mr.  Dampier,  afterwards  a  judge  of  the  King's  Bench:  and  Mr. 
Uurney,  now  a  baron  of  the  Exchequer. 


138  LIFE  OF  LORD 

according  to  the  phrase  of  those  days,  were  affiliated,  with  others  of 
a  like  character,  at  Sheffield,  Norwich,  Derby,  Stockport  and  else- 
where. 

The  London  Societies,  and  the  associations  connected  with  them, 
were  wont  to  quote,  and  hold  up  for  public  admiration,  the  great  agi- 
tator of  republicanism,  Thomas  Paine,  who,  one  fortnight  after  Hardy's 
admission  into  the  Constitutional  Society,  was  addressed  by  it  in  a 
letter,  applauding  "  the  eminent  services  rendered  to  the  public"  by 
Mr.  Paine's  "invaluable  writings."  Those  writings  were  disseminated 
in  cheap  editions  by  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  associations ;  and  the 
Corresponding  Society,  in  a  list  of  healths,  drunk  at  one  of  its  anni- 
versary dinners,  and  published  in  the  newspapers,  inserted  this  toast 
and  sentiment,  " Citizen  Thomas  Paine:  may  his  virtue  rise  superior 
to  calumny  and  suspicion,  and  his  name  still  be  dear  to  Britons  /" 
Among  the  papers  seized  in  Hardy's  house,  were  two  printed  books, 
one  entitled,  "Letter  by  Thomas  Paine  to  the  People  of  France,  pub- 
lished and  distributed  gratis  by  the  London  Corresponding  Society," 
(of  which  it  will  be  remembered  that  Hardy  was  the  secretary,)  and 
the  other  a  copy  of  Paine's  "  Rights  of  Man"  in  the  cheap  edition. 
The  following  passages  are  a  portion  of  the  extracts  read  to  the  jury 
from  the  "Rights  of  Man,"  as  evidence  of  the  intentions  of  the  soci- 
eties by  whom  that  work  and  its  author  were  adopted.  Speaking  of 
"  government  by  hereditary  succession,"  the  author  says, — 

"As  the  exercise  of  government  requires  talents  and  abilities,  and  as  talents  and 
abilities  cannot  have  hereditarydescent.it  is  evident  that  hereditary  succession  re- 
quires a  belief  from  man,  to  which  his  reason  cannot  subscribe,  and  which  can  only 
be  established  upon  his  ignorance  :  and  the  more  ignorant  any  country  is,  the  better  it 
is  filled  for  this  species  of  government.  A  general  revolution  in  the  principle  and  con- 
struction of  governments  is  necessary.  Though  by  force  or  contrivance  it  (govern- 
ment) has  been  usurped  into  an  inheritance,  the  usurpatum  cannot  alter  the  right  of 
things.  Sovereignty,  as  a  matter  of  right,  appertains  to  the  nation  only,  and  not  to  any 
individual.  The  romantic  and  barbarous  distinction  of  men  into  kings  and  subjects, 
though  it  may  suit  the  condition  of  courtiers,  cannot  that  of  citizens.  Every  citizen 
is  a  member  of  the  sovereignty,  and,  as  such,  can  acknowledge  no  personal  subjectum: 
and  his  obedience  can  be  only  to  the  laws.  All  hereditary  government  is,  in  its  nature, 
tyranny.  By  continuing  this  absurdity,  man  is  perpetually  in  contradiction  with  him- 
self: he  accepts  for  a  king  or  a  chief  magistrate  or  a  legislator,  a  person  whom  he 
would  not  elect  for  a  constable." 

The  Letter  to  the  People  of  France  was  in  much  the  same  strain. 
Mr.  Paine  there  said, — 

"  When  the  bagatelles  of  monarchy,  royalty,  regency  and  hereditary  succession  shall 
be  exposed,  with  all  their  absurdities,  a  new  ray  of  light  will  be  thrown  over  the  world, 
and  the  revolution  will  derive  new  strength  by  being  universally  understood.  It  is  now 
the  cause  of  all  nations  against  all  courts." 

Several  addresses  from  republican  societies  in  France  to  the  Lon- 
don Constitutional  Society  were  seized  in  the  house  of  Daniel  Adams, 
the  secretary  of  that  body.  One  of  them  contained  this  appeal  of  the 
French  to  the  English  republicans  :  "  Can  ye  any  longer  groan  under 
the  yoke  of  a  government  that  has  nothing  of  liberty  but  the  name  ? 
No,  brethren  and  friends,  no !  you  will  soon  lift  yourselves  up  against 
that  perfidious  government  of  St.  James's,  whose  infernal  policy,  like  to 
that  which  found  its  tomb  in  the  Thuilleries,  has  made  so  many  victims 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  139 

in  our  two  nations."  Another  of  these  addresses  entered  into  a  justi- 
fication of  "  the  necessary  day  of  the  10th  of  August,  1792."  The 
events  of  this  10th  of  August  must  be  borne  in  mind,  in  order  duly 
to  estimate  the  character  of  the  subsequent  proceedings  of  the  London 
Societies.  On  that  day  the  palace  of  the  Thuilleries,  from  which  the 
king  and  the  royal  family  had  been  obliged  to  fly  for  their  lives  to  the 
national  assembly,  was  attacked  by  a  large  body  of  insurgents,  who 
massacred  the  guards  and  domestics.  The  national  assembly  gave 
way  to  the  rebels ;  a  national  convention  was  summoned  to  settle  the 
future  government ;  the  king  was  provisionally  suspended  from  his 
royal  functions,  and  committed  to  close  custody ;  and  the  executive 
powrer  was  vested  in  a  new  council. 

In  the  October  next  following  these  events,  the  London  Corre- 
sponding Society,  declaring  themselves  "called  upon  to  countenance 
the  struggle  of  the  French  nation  against  despotism  and  aristocracy," 
resolved  upon  addressing  the  French  National  Convention:  and, 
among  their  announcements  of  this  resolution,  was  a  letter  from 
them  to  a  society  at  Stockport,  saying,  "  Without  entering  into  the 
probabh  effects  of  such  a  measure,  which  your  Society  will  not  fail  to 
discover,  we  invite  you  to  join  us."  The  draft  of  such  an  address 
was  communicated  by  the  London  Corresponding  Society  to  the  other 
associations.  The  draft  transmitted  to  the  Constitutional  Society  (in 
a  letter  dated  the  llth  of  October,  1792,  and  signed  by  Margarot 
as  chairman  and  Hardy  as  secretary)  contained  these,  among  other 
violent  passages : — 

"  If  you  succeed,  as  we  ardently  wish,  the  triple  alliance,  not  of 
crowns,  but  of  the  people  of  America,  France  and  Britain,  will  give 
freedom  to  Europe  and  peace  to  the  whole  world." — "How  well 
purchased  will  be,  though  at  the  expense  of  much  blood,  the  glorious, 
the  unprecedented  advantage  of  saying,  Mankind  is  free !  Tyrants 
and  tyranny  are  no  wore/" — The  Constitutional  Society  prepared  an 
address  of  the  same  sort,  and  sent  it  to  the  French  Convention,  with 
a  donation  of  a  thousand  pairs  of  shoes,  and  a  promise  of  more,  for 
"  the  soldiers  of  liberty."  The  address  began  thus : — 

"  Servants  of  a  sovereign  people  and  benefactors  of  mankind,  we  re- 
joice that  your  Revolution  has  arrived  at  that  point  of  perfection  which 
will  permit  us  to  address  you  by  this  title."  It  went  on,  "  From  bo- 
soms burning  with  ardour  in  your  cause,  we  tender  you  our  warmest 
wishes  for  the  full  extent  of  its  progress  and  success." — "  The  splen- 
dour of  the  French  Revolution  burst  forth  upon  the  nations  in  the  full 
fervour  of  a  meridian  sun,  and  displayed,  in  the  midst  of  the  European 
world,  the  practical  result  of  principles,  which  philosophy  had  sought 
in  the  shade  of  speculation,  and  which  experience  must  everywhere 
confirm." 

The  delegates  employed  by  the.  Society  to  present  this  address  at 
the  bar  of  the  French  Convention,  were  Joel  Barlow  and  John  Frost. 
The  former  of  these  envoys  had  just  published  and  transmitted, 
both  to  the  Corresponding  and  to  the  Constitutional  Societies,  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  French  Convention,  in  which  he  spoke  of 


140  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"the  cheat  of  royally"  and  appealed  to  the  experience  of  the  French 
as  proving  "that  kings  can  do  no  good."  This  letter  was  communi- 
cated by  Hardy  to  his  own  division  of  the  Corresponding  Society, 
and  read  there  in  his  presence,  with  loud  plaudits :  and  the  Consti- 
tutional Society,  also  in  Hardy's  presence,  resolved  to  prepare  an 
answer  to  Barlow,  "expressing  how  much  pride  this  society  feel  at 
having  elected  him  a  member."  It  will  be  remembered  that  Frost, 
the  other  envoy,  had  shortly  before  been  convicted  of  sedition,  in 
declaring,  before  several  persons,  that  he  was  for  equality  and  "no 
king."  Barlow  and  Frost,  in  executing  their  commission  at  the  bar 
of  the  French  Convention  in  November  1792,  concluded  their  speech 
with  these  words: — "It  would  not  be  strange,  if,  in  a  period  far 
short  of  what  we  should  venture  to  predict,  addresses  of  felicitation 
should  cross  the  seas  to  a  National  Convention  in  England."  The 
president's  answer,  which  was  found  entered  in  the  books  of  the  Con- 
stitutional Society ',  contained  these  phrases :— "  You  have  addressed 
us  with  something  more  than  good  wishes  "  (the  supply  of  shoes  for 
the  soldiers,)  "  since  the  condition  of  our  warriors  has  excited  your 
solicitude.  The  defenders  of  our  liberty  will  one  day  be  the  supporters 
of  your  own" — "The  moment  cannot  be  distant  when  the  people 
of  France  will  offer  their  congratulations  to  a  National  Convention  in 
England." — "  Generous  Republicans,  your  appearance  in  this  place 
will  form  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  mankind." 

A  society  at  Norwich  having  written  to  Hardy  on  the  llth  of  No- 
vember, 1792,  to  know  whether  "the  generality  of  the  societies  mean 
to  rest  satisfied  with  the  Duke  of  Richmond's  plan  only,"  (that  of  uni- 
versal suffrage  and  annual  election,)  "  or  whether  it  is  their  private 
design  to  rip  up  monarchy  by  the  roots,  and  place  democracy  in  its  stead" 
Hardy,  who  had,  on  the  1st  of  the  preceding  October,  been  appointed, 
by  division  No.  2  of  the  Corresponding  Society,  to  be  its  delegate  to 
the  standing  committee  of  the  several  divisions,  reported  this  Nor- 
wich letter  to  his  own  division  ;  but  "  they  suspected  that  this  was  to 
draw  them  into  some  unguarded  expressions,  and  declined  answer- 
ing." An  answer,  however,  was  written  by  Margarot,  of  wrhich  a 
draft  or  copy  was  found  in  Hardy's  house.  It  stated,  that  the  com- 
mittee of  the  Corresponding  Society  "mean  to  disseminate  political 
knowledge,  and  thereby  engage  the  judicious  part  of  the  nation  to 
demand  a  restoration  of  their  rights  in  annual  parliaments,"  to  be 
elected  by  universal  suffrage:  that  the  committee  "look  upon  the 
trifling"  (the  word  little  struck  out  and  the  word  trifling  substituted) 
"differences that  may  have  arisen  between  the  several  societies  to 
be  of  very  little  consequence,  and  think  they  will  subside  without  any 
ways  injuring  the  cause :"  and  presently  follows  a  recommendation 
"to  leave  monarchy,  democracy,  and  even  religion,  entirely  aside." 
The  framers  of  this  answer,  however,  notwithstanding  the  before- 
mentioned  suspicion  of  an  attempt  to  entrap,  make  no  disclaimer  in  it 
of  the  "  private  design  to  rip  up  monarchy  by  the  roots,"  nor  express 
any  horror  or  indignation  at  being  supposed  capable  of  such  an  inten- 
tion; but  wind  up  their  epistle  by  declaring  themselves  "  friends  to 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  141 

peace,  not  anarchy,  and  well-wishers  to  the  rights  of  man  ;  yet  not 
so  sanguine  as  to  imagine  those  rights  will  be  restored  by  the  spon- 
taneous consent  of  those  who  have  so  long  deprived  mankind  of 
them." 

On  the  10th  of  January,  1793,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Corresponding 
Society's  delegates,  some  remarks  were  made  upon  a  letter  from  a 
society  called  the  Friends  of  the  People,  which  contained  a  caution 
to  the  Corresponding  Society.  "In  consequence  of  these  remarks," 
a  delegate  named  Bell  made  this  observation  to  the  meeting:  "  Our 
addresses  to  the  Convention  of  France  prove,  that  we  mean  their 
laws  here."  Mr.  Margarot  said,  "  No  doubt."  It  passed  (said  a 
witness  who  had  been  present,)  with  the  "silent  assent  of  the  rest 
of  the  company."  Seventeen  delegates  were  there,  of  whom  Hardy 
was  one.  A  witness  named  Lynam,  himself  a  member,  had  kept 
notes  of  the  proceedings  at  many  of  these  meetings,  and  he  said, 
"  I  do  not  remember  Hardy  being  absent  one  night."  At  a  subse- 
quent meeting,  said  this  witness,  "there  was  a  good  deal  of  conver- 
sation, that  the  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  People  did  not  go  so  far 
in  their  idea  as  the  London  Corresponding  Society  and  the  Constitu- 
tional Society  did  ;  for  all  along  it  was  held  as  an  invariable  idea,  that 
eventually  it  must  come  to  a  struggle."  At  the  meeting  of  delegates 
on  the  7th  of  February,  Hardy  being  present,  a  proposal  was  made 
for  making  up  a  deficiency  in  the  rent  of  the  room  used  by  Baxter's 
division,  No.  16.  Upon  this,  Margarot  said,  "We  must  preserve  the 
divisions  No.  25  and  No.  16 :  being  poor,  they  will  be  of  great  ser- 
vice if  we  go  to  war, — he  made  use,"  added  the  witness,  "  of  the 
term  '  war :' — and  it  was  mentioned  by  several  of  the  delegates  that 
it  was  eventually  expected  that  there  would  certainly  be  a  rising  in 
the  country." 

While  these  discussions  were  going  on  in  London,  the  National 
Convention  of  France,  on  the  21st  of  January,  1793,  brought  their 
king  to  the  scaffold.  Even  this  fearful  exemplification  of  the  practical 
working  of  a  convention  had  no  effect  upon  the  leaders  of  the  revo- 
lutionary party  in  London  :  who,  on  the  15th  of  the  next  March,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Constitutional  Society,  voted  a  resolution  of  thanks 
to  Barlow  and  Frost  "  for  their  conduct  in  the  presentation  of  the 
address  to  the  National  Convention,"  with  an  order  for  publishing 
that  resolution  in  the  newspapers.  Nay,  before  the  expiration  of  the 
very  week  in  which  the  French  king  was  beheaded,  the  same  society 
resolved,  "that  citizen  Barrcre,  a  member  of  the  National  Conven- 
tion of  France,  being  considered  by  us  as  one  of  tJie  most  judicious 
and  enlightened  friends  of  human  liberty,  be  admitted  an  associated 
honorary  member:" — and  seven  days  after  this  resolution,  they  passed 
another,  that  Barrure's  speech,  as  reported  in  the  Moniteurs  of  the 
6th  and  7th  of  January,  should  be  inserted  in  their  books.  The 
speech  so  adopted  was  that  in  which  he  urged  the  destruction  of  the 
king,  and  in  which  he  uttered  the  following  sentences : — 

"The  people  of  Paris,  by  making  a  holy  insurrection  against  him  on  the   Wthof 
August,  deprived  him  of  his  character  of  inviolability.    The  people  of  the  other  depart- 


142  LIFE  OF  LORD 

ments  applauded  this  insurrection,  and  adopted  the  result  of  it."  "Louis  was  invested 
by  the  tacit  consent  of  the  people,  with  a  constitutional  inviolability :  their  writ  consent 
has  deprived  him  of  the  same,  and  is  therefore  as  lawful  as  the  grant  of  it."  "  The 
people  is  the  sovereign.  A  convention  is  a  representation  of  the  sovereignty.  The  con- 
vention being  assembled,  is  itself  that  sovereign  will  which  ought  to  prevail." — 
"Invested,  from  your  origin,  with  the  most  unlimited  confidence  by  your  fellow-citi- 
zens, you  hesitate  in  the  first  step.  Am  I  then  no  longer  in  the  midst  of  that  National 
Convention  whose  honourable  mission  it  was  to  destroy  kings  and  royalty?" 

Such  was  the  description  given  by  one  of  its  own  members  of  the 
objects  and  duties  of  that  French  convention,  whose  principles  the 
leaders  of  the  London  Society  were  so  forward  to  applaud,  and  whose 
constitution  they  were  so  impatient  to  obtain. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1793,  steps  were  taken  by  Hardy  and 
others  to  arm  the  societies,  both  with  pikes  and  with  guns :  and  some 
divisions  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society  were  proved  to  have 
drilled  at  late  hours,  in  private  rooms,  and  under  circumstances  of 
concealment.  Most  of  the  parties  so  arming  either  professed  loyal 
objects,  or  alleged  that  the  threats  of  the  aristocratical  party  obliged 
them  to  keep  arms  for  their  own  defence ;  but  as  against  some  of  them 
conversations  were  proved  establishing  a  decided  intention  of  using 
their  weapons,  in  order,  as  a  witness,  named  Saunderson,  expressed 
it,  "to  obtain  a  parliamentary  reform  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet." 

The  evidence,  however,  though  positive  as  far  as  it  reached,  yet 
certainly  did  not  show  that  these  armaments  had  extended  to  any 
alarming  number  of  malcontents. 

On  the  24th  of  October,  1793,  Mr.  Margaret  and  Mr.  Gerrald 
were  delegated  by  the  London  Corresponding  Society,  as  its  repre- 
sentatives, at  a  convention  in  Edinburgh,  for  "  a  thorough  reform  in 
the  parliamentary  representation  of  Great  Britain."  This  delegation 
was  a  measure  concerted  between  Hardy  and  William  Skirving,  the 
secretary  of  the  Edinburgh  Convention,  Hardy  requesting  that  his 
own  share  in  that  contrivance  might  be  kept  secret  by  Skirving. 
Before  the  end  of  the  year,  however,  the  two  delegates  and  the  secre- 
tary Skirving  were  apprehended  for  their  conduct  in  the  Scotch  con- 
vention. They  were  speedily  brought  to  trial,  convicted  of  sedition, 
and  sentenced  to  fourteen  years'  transportation,  under  the  law  then  ex- 
isting in  Scotland  for  the  punishment  of  such  misdemeanours.  Their 
behaviour  throughout  was  approved  by  the  London  Corresponding 
Society,  and  Hardy,  its  secretary,  addressed,  on  the  llth  of  January, 
1794,  a  letter  upon  the  subject  of  it  to  Adams,  the  secretary  of  tiie 
Society  for  Constitutional  Information,  saying,  "Now  is  the  time  for 
us  to  do  something  worthy  of  men.  The  brave  defenders  of  liberty 
south  of  the  English  Channel,"  (the  armies  of  the  French  regicides,) 
"  are  performing  wonders,  driving  their  enemies  before  them  like  chaff 
before  the  whirlwind." 

On  the  20Hi  of  January,  1794,  a  general  meeting  of  the  London 
Corresponding  Society  agreed  upon  an  address  to  the  people,  and 
upon  certain  resolutions.  Both  the  address  and  the  resolutions  were 
printed  by  Hardy's  order.  The  Concluding  paragraph  of  the  address 
ran  thus:— "You  may  ask,  perhaps,  by  what  means  shall  we  seek 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  143 

redress  ?  We  answer,  that  men,  in  a  state  of  civilized  society,  are 
bound  to  seek  redress  of  their  grievances  from  the  laws,  as  long  as 
any  redress  can  be  obtained  by  the  laws.  But  our  common  master, 
whom  we  serve,  whose  law  is  a  law  of  liberty,  and  whose  service  is 
perfect  freedom,  has  taught  us  not  to  expect  to  gather  grapes  from 
thorns,  nor  figs  from  thistles.  We  must  have  redress  from  our  own 
laws,  and  not  from  the  laws  of  our  plunderers,  enemies  and  oppressors. 
There  is  no  redress  for  a  nation,  circumstanced  as  we  are,  but  in  a 
fair,  free  and  full  representation  of  the  people."  Then  followed  the 
first  resolution,  which  explained  the  nature  of  the  representation  thus 
required.  After  directing  the  general  committee  of  the  society  to  meet 
daily  for  the  purpose  of  watching  the  proceedings  of  the  Parliament 
and  government,  this  resolution  provided  "that,  upon  the  first  intro- 
duction of  any  bill  or  motion  inimical  to  the  liberties  of  the  people, 
such  as  for  landing  foreign  troops  in  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  for 
suspending  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  for  proclaiming  martial  law,  or 
for  preventing  the  people  from  meeting  in  societies  for  constitutional 
information,  or  any  other  innovation  of  a  similar  nature,"  the  com- 
mittee should  issue  summonses  "  forthwith  to  call  a  general  convention 
of  the  people,  for  the,  purpose  of  ta/cing  such  measures  into  their  con- 
sideration." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Corresponding  Society  on  the  30th  of  January, 
1794,  Hardy  being  present,  a  motion  was  made  by  Thelwall,  and 
carried,  "that  there  should  be  a  permanent  secret  committee  of  dele- 
gates, who  were  to  consider  what  measures  were  necessary  from  time 
to  time,  according  to  the  measures  which  might  be  taken  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  to  have  a  discretionary  power  of  convok- 
ing the  general  committee  of  delegates."  At  the  next  weekly  meet- 
ing, Hardy  being  present,  the  secret  committee  reported  "  that,  being 
a  secret  committee,  they  had  found  out  that  it  was  dangerous  ;  therefore 
they  applied  to  the  committee  of  delegates  to  dissolve  them,  and  give 
them  power  to  choose  another  committee  in  their  place,  and  that  they 
might  not  be  compelled  to  name  the  names  of  those  persons  that  were  to 
form  the  new  committee."  This  extraordinary  proposal  appears  to 
have  been  carried  without  opposition. 

On  the  27th  of  March,  1794,  when  the  address  and  resolutions  of 
the  20th  of  January  preceding,  whereof  there  had  been  printed  about 
8000,  had  been  a  couple  of  months  in  circulation,  the  London  Cor- 
responding Society  wrote,  through  Hardy,  to  the  Constitutional  So- 
ciety, inquiring  whether  the  latter  society  concurred  with  them  "  in 
seeing  the  necessity  of  a  speedy  convention  for  the  purpose,"  continued 
they,  "of  obtaining,  in  a  constitutional  and  legal  method,  a  redress 
of  those  grievances  under  which  we  at  present  labour,'  and  which 
can  only  be  effectually  removed  by  a  full  and  fair  representation  of 
the  people  of  Great  Britain."  They  subjoined  some  resolutions,  one 
of  which  was,  "  That  it  is  the  decided  opinion  of  this  society,  that, 
to  secure  ourselves  from  future  illegal  and  scandalous  prosecutions, 
to  prevent  a  repetition  of  wicked  and  unjust  sentences,  and  to  recall 
those  wise  and  wholesome  laws  that  have  been  wrested  from  us,  and 


144  LIFE  OF  LORD 

of  which  scarcely  a  vestige  remains,  there  ought  to  be  immediately  a 
convention  of  the  people,  by  delegates  deputed  for  that  purpose  from, 
the  different  societies  of  the  friends  of  freedom."  The  Constitutional 
Society  expressed  their  concurrence,  and  appointed  a  committee  to 
confer  with  a  committee  of  the  Corresponding  Society:  and,  on  the 
recommendation  of  these  two  delegated  bodies,  a  joint  committee  of 
co-operation  was  formed,  of  which  the  prisoners  Moore,  Thelwall, 
Baxter,  Hodgson,  Bonney,  Tooke,  Wardle  and  Joyce  were  members, 
Joyce  acting  as  secretary. 

On  the  28th  of  March,  an  address  to  the  persons  convicted  of  sedi- 
tion in  the  matter  of  the  Scotch  convention,  was  voted  by  the  Con- 
stitutional Society,  containing  this  paragraph:  "A  full  and  fair  repre- 
sentation of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  \ve  seek  with  all  the  ardour 
of  men  and  Britons ;  for  the  sake  of  which  we  are  not  only  ready  to 
act  with  vigour  and  unanimity,  but,  we  trust,  prepared  also  to  suffer 
with  constancy ."  This  resource  of  a  convention  was  one  which  the 
societies  declared  themselves  driven  to  adopt  in  consequence  of  the 
utter  hopelessness  of  obtaining  any  redress  from  Parliament ;  yet  in 
almost  all  these  declarations,  while  expressly  disclaiming  the  only 
remedy  which  the  law  and  the  constitution  allow,  and  directly  recom- 
mending the  unlawful  measure  of  a  convention  to  overrule  the  legisla- 
ture, they  persisted  in  the  irreconcilable  profession  of  limiting  them- 
selves to  legal  and  constitutional  methods. 

The  14th  of  April,  1794,  was  a  remarkable  day  in  the  history  of 
the  Corresponding  Society.  On  that  day,  a  very  large  assembly  of  its 
members  met  in'the  open  air,  at  Chalk  Farm,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  London,  and,  among  other  proceedings,  passed  some  resolutions, 
of  which  the  following  are  extracts: — "  That  the  wrhole  proceedings 
of  the  late  British  convention  of  the  people  at  Edinburgh  are  such  as 
claim  our  approbation  and  applause." — "  That  any  attempt  to  violate 
those  yet  remaining  laws  (which  were  intended  for  the  security  of 
Englishmen  against  the  tyranny  of  courts  and  ministers,  and  the  cor- 
ruption of  dependent  judges)  by  vesting  in  such  judge  a  legislative  or 
arbitrary  power,  such  as  has  lately  been  exercised  by  the  Court  of  Jus- 
ticiary in  Scotland,  ought  to  be  considered  as  dissolving  entirely  the 
social  compact  between  the  English  nation  and  their  governors,  and 
driving  them  to  an  immediate  appeal  to  that  incontrovertible  maxim 
of  eternal  justice,  that  the  safety  of  the  people  is  the  supreme,  and,  in 
cases  of  necessity,  the  only  law."  "That  the  committee  of  corre- 
spondence be  directed  to  convey  the  approbation  of  this  society  to 
Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan,  prisoner  in  the  Newgate  of  the  city  of 
Dublin,"  (convicted  of  a  seditious  libel,)  and  "  to  the  Society  of  United 
Irishmen  in  Dublin,  and  to  exhort  them  to  persevere  in  their  exertions  to 
obtain  justice  for  the  people  of  Ireland."  While  Richter,  one  of  the 
prisoners,  was  reading  some  of  these  resolutions  to  the  meeting,  he 
stopped  to  make  some  observations  of  his  own.  Hardy,  who  stood 
below,  looked  up  to  him  and  said,  "  Read,  sir,  without  comment." 

On  the  2d  of  May  there  was  a  dinner  at  the  Crown  and  Anchor,  of 
the  Constitutional  Society,  with  certain  invited  members  of  the  Cor- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  145 

responding  Society.  One  Groves,  a  witness  on  the  trial,  received  his 
ticket,  gratis,  from  Hardy,  who,  as  well  as  Thelwall,  Richter,  Mr. 
Home  Tooke  and  other  active  partisans,  attended  the  dinner.  The 
airs  played  there  were,  "  Ca  Ira,"  the  "  Marseillois  March,"  and  other 
tunes  then  popular  with  the  Parisian  revolutionists;  which  excited 
an  universal  "din  of  approbation." 

On  the  12th  of  the  same  month  of  May,  the  career  of  the  societies 
was  stopped  by  the  apprehension  of  Hardy  and  several  of  his  asso- 
ciates on  a  charge  of  high  treason. 

Evidence  was  given  of  many  other  acts,  papers  and  declarations, 
of  a  treasonable  character,  done  or  put  forth  by  fellow-prisoners  of 
Hardy,  and  by  other  members  associated  in  the  general  design, — some 
of  them  more  violent,  perhaps,  than  any  yet  stated.  For  example,  a 
conversation  was  proved  between  the  prisoner  Baxter  and  a  witness 
named  Gosling,  in  the  course  of  which,  arming  and  drilling  were 
strongly  recommended  by  Baxter;  and  an  opinion  being  thereupon 
expressed  by  the  witness,  that  a  reform  in  Parliament  might  be  had 
without  blows,  Baxter  asked,  Was  there  any  man  in  the  society  who 
believed  a  parliamentary  reform  was  all  they  wanted  ?  For  his  own 
part,  he  did  not  wish  the  king  or  any  of  his  family  to  lose  their  lives, 
but  he  thought  they  might  goto  Hanover.  He  said  that  the  committee 
of  correspondence  and  co-operation  were  preparing  an  address  to  the 
army,  with  some  strong  resolutions :  that  one  Moore  had  been  particu- 
larly active  and  successful  in  getting  over  the  army :  that  they  had  suc- 
ceeded best  with  the  old  soldiers  in  Westminster;  and  that  if  one-third 
of  the  army  were  got  over,  the  other  two-thirds  would  not  act  with  spirit 
against  them. 

This  Baxter  was  not  always  even  thus  moderate.  He  was  the  cir- 
culator of  a  paper  in  the  style  of  a  play-bill,  announcing,  "  for  the 
benefit  of  John  Bull,"  a  farce  called  "  La  Guillotine^  or  George's 
Head  in  a  Basket,"  with  dramatis  personae  and  other  additions,  in  the 
same  taste. 

Another  paper,  drafted  by  a  delegate  of  the  Corresponding  Society, 
named  Martin,  who  acted  with  Hardy  and  Thelwall  in  the  preparation 
of  the  proceedings  for  the  Chalk  Farm  meeting,  concluded  with  this 
sentence:  "  Resolved,  that  it  is  the  right  and  the  bounden  duty  of  the 
people  to  punish  all  traitors  against  the  nation ;  and  that  the  following 
words  are  not  now  a  part  of  the  oath  of  allegiance,  to  wit, '  I  declare 
that  it  is  not  lawful,  upon  any  pretence,  to  take  arms  against  the 
king.' " 

One  evening,  toward  the  end  of  1793,  at  a  meeting  of  division  No. 
29,  of  the  Corresponding  Society,  in  Shire  Lane,  near  Temple  Bar, 
Mr.  Redhead  Yorke,  one  of  the  members,  addressed  the  persons  pre- 
sent, acquainting  them  that  he  was  going  abroad,  and  hoped  to  return 
to  London  at  the  head  of  a  French  force,  by  Christmas  or  the  begin- 
ning of  January.  He  expressed  his  hope  that  he  should  see  them  all 
ready  to  join  him  without  shrinking,  since  it  was  impossible  to  do  any 
thing  without  some  bloodshed ;  and  that  Mr.  Pitt's  and  the  Icing's  heads 
would  be  upon  Temple  Bar.  This  speech  had  a  reception  "  quite 

VOL.  I. — 10 


146  LIFE  OF  LORD 

unanimous :"  all  rose  and  shook  hands  with  him  when  he  got  up  and 
left  the  room. 

On  the  evening  of  the  14th  of  April,  1794,  the  day  of  the  great 
meeting  at  Chalk  Farm,  Thehvall  was  in  the  chair  at  a  supper  of  one 
of  the  divisions ;  and,  blowing  off  the  head  of  a  pot  of  porter ,  said, 
"  This  is  the  way  I  would  have  all  Icings  served." 

The  attorney-general,  in  opening  these  various  circumstances  to  the  jury,  as 
evidence  to  prove  the  treason  of  compassing  the  king's  death,  stated  that  the  proofs, 
which  it  would  be  his  duty  to  adduce,  would  sufficiently  establish  the  fact  of  a  con- 
spiracy to  depose  the  king,  which,  in  point  of  law,  is  an  overt  act  of  compassing  his 
death;  and  he  argued  that  it  could  not  be  less  an  overt  act  of  compassing  the  king's 
death  for  being  included  in  the  still  wider  design  of  subverting  the  entire  monarchy 
and  substituting  a  commonwealth,  which  was  the  real  object  aimed  at  under  colour 
of  "a  full  and  fair  representation  of  the  people."  If  a  conspiracy  to  depose  the 
king  is  an  overt  act  of  compassing  his  death  where  the  conspirators  intend  to 
supersede  him  by  another  king,  it  is  equally  so  where  they  intend  to  supersede  him 
by  a  republic.  The  convention,  contemplated  by  these  conspirators,  was  intended 
to  claim  all  civil  and  political  authority;  which  authority  it  was  to  exercise,  by  altering 
the  government  independently  of  the  legislature  and  of  the  statutes  by  which  the 
king  is  sworn  to  govern.  The  conspiracy  to  assemble  such  a  convention  was  a 
conspiracy  to  depose  the  king  from  his  sovereign  power:  and  the  insufficiency  of 
the  force  by  which  the  object  might  be  attempted  could  make  no  difference  in  the 
character  of  the  object  itself,  which  must  be  equally  treasonable  whether  successful 
or  unsuccessful.  Nor  would  it  make  any  difference  whether  the  first  assembly  to  be 
convoked  was  to  be  itself  a  convention  assuming  all  civil  and  political  authority,  or 
was  only  to  devise  the  means  of  forming  such  a  convention.  Neither  would  the 
conspiracy  be  the  less  a  treasonable  one,  for  purposing  to  continue  the  name  and 
office  of  king  in  the  person  of  George  the  Third,  if  that  continuance  was  intended  to 
be  coupled  with  a  proviso  that  he  should  govern  with  a  new  kind  of  legislature  to  be 
constituted  by  the  convention.  A  king  who  should  consent  so  to  govern  would  no 
longer  be  the  lawful  king:  he  would  have  been  deposed  from  his  character  of  king 
as  established  bylaw.  U\A  be  could  not  so  consent;  for  solo  govern  would  be  to 
violate  his  coronation  oath:  therefore,  he  must  refuse,  must  resist,  and,  in  conse- 
quence of  resisting,  his  life  must  be  in  danger.  In  either  case  he  would  have  been 
deposed:  for  the  meeting  of  a  convention,  assuming  all  authority,  must  in  itself  have 
been,  at  least  pro  tempore,  a  deposition  of  every  other  power.  But  in  this  case  the 
evidence  went  beyond  that  kind  of  incidental  deposition  of  the  king:  it  proved  that 
his  actual  deposition  was  the  direct  and  express  object  of  appointing  a  committee  to 
constitute  this  convention. 

Beside  the  overt  act  of  conspiring  to  depose  the  king  by  means  of  a  convention, 
there  were  other  overt  acts  of  conspiracy  to  depose  the  king  by  other  means:  by 
endeavouring  to  introduce  into  this  country,  through  the  agency  of  affiliated  societies, 
the  same  principles  which  had  been  set  at  work  in  France,  and  to  follow  them  out  to 
the  same  end.  The  doctrine  put  forward  by  the  societies  was  that  of  "  equal  active 
citizenship,"  on  which  they  sought  to  found  a  representative  government.  That  was 
the  principle  upon  which  was  formed  the  French  constitution  of  1791;  a  constitution 
preserving  the  office  of  king  and  setting  up  a  sort  of  royal  democracy.  But  in  Au- 
gust, 1792,  that  constitution  was  destroyed:  and  the  transactions  of  the  English  socie- 
ties, in  and  after  the  October  succeeding  that  date,  proved  that,  if  not  earlier,  yet  at 
least  from  October  1792,  they  meant  to  destroy  the  kingly  office  in  England.  They 
sought  to  advance  this  object  by  stimulating  their  members  to  arm:  and  various 
divisions  did  arm  and  clandestinely  practise  the  manual  exercise. 

The  witnesses  on  behalf  of  the  prosecution  were  then  called,  who 
proved,  amidst  a  vast  collection  of  other  less  material  circumstances, 
the  facts  already  stated. 

The  evidence  for  the  prosecution  did  not  close  until  the  1st  of  No- 
vember, the  fifth  morning  of  the  trial.  Mr.  Erskine  then  opened  the 
defence  to  the  jury  by  an  address,  of  which  Mr.  Tooke,  in  a  manu- 
script note  upon  his  own  copy  of  Hardy's  trial,  says,  "  This  speech 
will  live  for  ever." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  147 

Mr.  Erskine  deprecated  all  speculation  upon  the  consequences  which  might  happen 
to  follow  from  a  prisoner's  acts,  and  desired  that,  in  a  criminal  procedure,  his  inten- 
tions alone  should  be  considered:  the  allegation  of  the  indictment  being,  that  the  acts 
charged  were  done  with  intent  to  depose  the  king.  Moreover,  the  charge  was  not 
simply  of  taking  steps  to  depose  the  king,  but  of  taking  steps  "  with  the  intention  to 
bring  him  to  death."  The  conspiracy  to  depose  the  king  might  be  adduced  as  evi- 
dence of  the  intention  to  destroy  his  life,  but  never,  as  a  "proposition  of  law,  could 
constitute  the  intention  itself."  He  would  maintain,  firstly,  that  no  overt  act  can 
amount  to  the  treason  of  compassing  the  king's  death,  unless  charged  and  proved  to 
have  been  committed  in  fulfilment  of  a  traitorous  intention  to  destroy  the  king's 
natural  life;  secondly,  that  a  conspiracy  to  levy  war,  or  a  conspiracy  against  the 
king's  regal  character  or  capacity,  though  admissible  evidence  of  compassing  the 
king's  death,  is  no  good  overt  act  of  such  compassing,  without  proof  of  some  force 
against  the  king's  person  exerted  or  contemplated;  and  that  even  such  exertion  or  con- 
templation of  force,  however  clearly  proved,  is  not  itself  the  substantive  treason  of 
compassing  the.  king's  death,  but  only  an  overt  act  or  piece  of  evidence  from  which  a 
conclusion  is  to  be  dra\vn  whether  that  substantive  treason  of  compassing  have  been 
committed  or  not.  Thirdly,  that  the  charge  of  compassing  the  king's  death,  as  laid! 
in  an  indictment  for  treason,  is  not  a  conclusion  of  law  necessarily  following  from  the 
proof  of  the  overt  act,  but  is  an  averment  of  fact,  on  which  the  jury  are  to  draw  the 
aifirmattve  or  negative  conclusion  for  themselves.  He  said,  that  in  the  present  case, 
as  the  treason  of  compassing  was  a  merely  constructive  one,  by  the  assimilation  of 
a  supposed  intention  of  attacking  the  king's  authority,  to  an  intention  of  attacking 
his  natural  life, — so  the  overt  act  of  deposing  was  likewise  a  merely  constructive 
one,  by  the  assimilation  of  a  plan  for  undermining  monarchy,  through  changes  that 
might  be  wrought  in  public  opinion  to  a  plan  for  deposing  the  monarch  by  force.  In 
times  prior  to  the  statute  of  treasons,  (25  Edw.  III.,)  to  compass  the  life  of  any  man 
was  a  felony:  and  under  that  state  of  the  law,  what  amounted  to  compassing  had 
been  fully  settled.  "That  rule,"  says  Mr.  Justice  Foster,  "  has  been  laid  aside  as  too 
rigorous  in  the  case  of  common  persons;  but  in  the  case  of  the  king,  queen  and 
prince,  the  statute  of  treasons  has,  with  great  propriety,  retained  it  in  its  full  extent 
and  vigour,  and,  in  describing  the  offence,  has  likewise  retained  the  ancient  mode  of 
expression."  "AH  the  words  descriptive  of  the  offence,"  observes  the  same  writer, 
"are  plainly  borrowed  from  the  common  law,  and,  therefore, must  bear  the  same  con- 
struction they  did  at  common  law."  "It  follows,"  argued  Mr.  Erskine,  "  that  nothing 
can  be  a  compassing  of  the  death  of  the  king,  which  would  not,  in  ancient  times, 
have  been  a  felony  in  the  case  of  a  subject."  The  design,  then,  to  be  treasonable  as 
a  compassing  of  the  king's  death,  must  be  against  the  king's  person :  no  design 
against  his  government  alone,  no  mere  plan  for  deposing  his  authority  in  particular 
points  of  it,  would  amount  to  this  treason,  nor  yet  to  an  overt  act  from  which  this 
treason  could  be  inferred.  Unless  when  a  jury  should  find  that  the  attempt  to  depose 
was  with  an  intent  against  the  king's  natural  existence,  it  could  be  no  overt  act  of  this 
kind  of  treason ;  of  which  such  an  intent  is  the  very  essence.  There  might  be  cir- 
cumstances, certainly,  under  which  a  conspiracy  to  depose  the  king  and  annihilate 
his  regal  capacity  would  amount  to  satisfactory  evidence  of  an  intention  to  destro}' 
his  natural  life;  but  this  intention  would  not  be  a  necessary  consequence  of  law  from 
the  fact  of  such  a  conspiracy,  but  would  be  a  matter  for  a  jury  to  find  or  to  negative, 
according  to  their  own  judgment  upon  the  whole  case  before  them  :  and,  in  order  to 
find  him  guilty  of  that  intent,  it  is  not  enough  that  they  believe  him  so:  they  must 
have  improved:  he  must  be  guilty  "provably."  Nor  is  it  enough,  on  a  penal  statute, 
that  the  act  charged  be  brought  within  the  reason  and  mischief  of  the  law:  it  must  be 
brought  unequivocally  within  the  very  letter.  Treason  is  not  to  be  made  out  by  con- 
struction, by  cumulation  or  by  analogy.  He  then  cited  various  legal  authorities,  as 
fortifying  the  argument,  that  in  order  to  constitute  this  treason,  an  intent  against  the 
king's  natural  existence  must  be  proved.  He  next  proceeded  to  argue  upon  the  facts 
in  evidence,  that  no  such  intent  had  been  entertained  by  the  prisoner  Hardy,  whose 
objects,  doctrines  and  declarations,  he  contended,  had  not  gone  beyond  those  of  the 
Duke  of  Richmond,  Mr.  Burke,  and  other  writers  of  confessedly  constitutional  cha- 
racter. If  unjustifiable  steps  had  been  taken  by  the  Scotch  convention,  or  by  any 
other  parties  who  were  connected  with  the  prisoner,  but  were  not  by  him  authorized 
to  take  such  steps,  he  ought  not  to  be  made  criminally  responsible  for  their  excess  of 
the  authority  committed  to  them.  The  convention,  which  the  prisoner  was  here 
charged  with  an  overt  act  of  treason  in  attempting  to  assemble,  was  not  the  Scotch 
convention,  but  a  convention  intended  to  have  been  convened  in  England:  and  there 


148  LIFE  OF  LORD 

was  nothin*  to  show  any  treasonable  object  in  this  intended  English  convention.  He 
Suled  the  evdence  respecting  arms:  attacked  the  credit  of  some  of  the  witnesses: 
and  concluded  with  a  splendid  appeal  to  the  justice  of  the  jury  and  the  spmt  of  the 
British  constitution. 

Many  witnesses  were  then  called  for  the  prisoner.  Those  of  them 
who  were  members  of  the  Corresponding  Society  declared  that  they 
had  not  concurred  in  any  plan  of  obtaining,  by  any  other  than  consti- 
tutional means,  a  reform  in  Parliament,  and  that  they  did  not  believe 
in  the  existence  of  any  ulterior  design.  Several  other  witnesses  gave 
the  prisoner  the  character  of  a  steady,  peaceable  and  well-meaning 
man.  The  evidence  for  the  defence  being  finished  on  the  3d  of  No- 
vember, 

Mr.  Gibbs  (on  the  same  day),  addressed  the  jury  for  the  prisoner,  adopting  the 
main  argument  used  by  Mr.  Erskine,  that,  to  constitute  the  treason  alleged,  there 
must  be  an  intent  against  the  natural  life  of  the  king.  This  prisoner  entertained  no 
such  intent;  but,  finding  that  Parliament  would  not  attend  to  the  petitions  of  those 
•who  desired  its  reform,  had  endeavoured  to  bring  public  opinion  to  act  upon  the  legis- 
lature, through  the  medium  of  an  intended  convention  of  delegates.  The  few  arms 
about  which  some  evidence  had  been  given,  were  surely  requisite  for  the  bona  fide 
purpose  of  self-defence,  when  Dr.  Priestley's  house  at  Birmingham,  and  the  house: 
of  others  at  Manchester  and  at  Nottingham  had  been  attacked  by  mobs.  1 
ridiculous  to  talk  of  a  plot  for  overturning  a  government  with  three  dozen  of  pikes, 
sixty  muskets  and  three  or  four  French  knives.  Moreover,  the  principal  witnesses 
upon  this  part  of  the  case  were  unworthy  of  credit.— The  delegates  to  the  Scotch 
convention,  with  which  the  crown  officers  had  sought  to  connect  this  prisoner,  were 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanour  only,  and  not  of  treason  :  indeed  it  was  only  for  a  misde- 
meanour that  they  were  prosecuted.  The  intended  convention  in  England  had  no 
treasonable  objects:  the  prisoner  had  used  no  concealment  respecting  them.  His 
intention  was,— like  that  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond,— to  operate  upon  the  legislature 
through  the  declared  sense  of  the  people. 

The  solicitor- general  replied  on  the  3d  and  4th  of  November:— 

He  declared  his  opinion  that  the  bulk  of  the  persons  mixed  up  in  these  transac- 
tions had  been  the  mere  dupes  of  leaders  who  professed  lawful  objects,  but  pursued 
unlawful  ones.  If  the  designs  of  these  leaders  had  been  lawful,  the  prisoner,  who 
•was  one  of  them,  would  have  called,  as  his  witnesses,  the  acting  men  of  the  society, 
•who  knew  its  real  objects,  instead  of  producing  people  who  had  been  entrusted  with 
none  of  its  business.  The  necessity  of  self-defence,  here  set  up  as  an  excuse  for 
arming,  was  a  mere  fraudulent  pretext.  If  the  society's  views  had  been  justifiable, 
there  would  have  been  no  need  for  their  secret  committee,  at  the  constitution  of 
•which  the  prisoner  was  present — himself  certainly  no  dupe,  since  he  regulated  the 
•whole  correspondence  of  the  association.  The  solicitor-general  proceeded  to  state 
his  view  of  the  law  of  treason;  contending  that,  as  an  attempt  against  the  kingly 
power  has  the  natural  consequence  of  endangering  the  life  of  the  king,  the  man  who 
designs  such  an  attempt  is  guilty  of  compassing  the  king's  death.  The  king  being 
the  sole  representative  of  the  state,  an  attack  upon  the  sovereign  power  of  the  state  is 
necessarily  an  attack  upon  the  person  of  the  king.  The  law  does  not  require,  in 
order  to  convict  a  man  of  committing  a  criminal  act  in  fulfilment  of  an  intention, 
that  the  intention  to  commit  that  very  act  should  have  been  preconceived  specifically: 
if  he  does  what  leads  as  a  general  consequence  to  that  criminal  act,  he  is  guilty  in. 
law  of  the  intention  to  commit  it:  as  where  a  man  shoots  at  A,  intending  to  kill  him, 
but  the  shot  misses  A  and  kills  B,  whom  the  person  shooting  had  no  intent  to  kill,  yet 
he  is  guilty  of  killing  B  with  malice  aforethought.  In  confirmation  of  this  view,  the 
solicitor-general  cited  various  authorities,  dwelling  particularly  on  the  trial  of  Blunt 
and  Davis  for  high  treason  (1  Howell's  State  Trials);  and  controverted  the  construc- 
tion put  by  Mr.  Erskine  on  the  quotation  from  Mr.  Justice  Foster.  That  the  case  of 
treason  must  be  made  out  provably  he  would  not  deny;  but  that  rule  was  not  pecu- 
liar to  an  overt  act  of  high  treason:  between  the  evidence  of  this  and  of  any  other 
crime,  there  was  no  difference,  except  that  in  treason  there  must  be  at  least  two  wit- 
nesses,— either  one  to  one  overt  act  and  another  to  another,  of  the  same  treason,  or 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  149 

both  to  one  overt  act.  He  then  entered  upon  the  consideration  of  the  general  charac- 
ter which  must  belong  to  a  convention  of  the  people,  and  argued  the  incompatibility 
of  such  a  convention  with  monarchy.  Any  design  to  alter  the  constitution,  other- 
wise  than  by  the  legislature  acting  freely,  was  a  design  to  depose  the  king  from  his 
royal  authority,  and  a  compassing  of  the  king's  death:  and,  that  design  being  mani- 
fested by  any  act  in  pursuance  of  it,  the  parties  to  such  design  were  guilty  of  high 
treason.  A  convention  would  have  been  an  alteration  of  the  constitution,  an  assump- 
tion of  the  sovereign  power  of  the  state.  That  the  prisoners  so  intended  it,  was  plain 
from  their  references  to  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  in  France,  and  from  many 
express  passages  in  the  proceedings  and  publications  of  the  societies:  and  the  mode 
in  which  they  prosecuted  that  intention  was  by  pamphlets  and  other  papers  and 
speeches,  vilifying  the  constitution  of  England  and  inciting  the  people  to  throw  it  off. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre,  after  summing  up  the  evidence  on  the 
4th  of  November,  told  the  jury  in  his  direction  to  them  on  the  5th, 

That  it  was  not  necessary  in  point  of  Jaw  to  prove  a  compassing  of  the  king's 
death,  as  a  conniption  existing  in  the  prisoner's  mind  prior  to  the  conception  of  depos- 
ing the  king.  "The  conspiracy  to  depose  the  king,"  he  said,  "is  evidence  of  compas- 
sing and  imagining  the  death  of  the  king  conclusive  in  its  nature:  so  conclusive, 
that  it  is  become  a  presumption  of  law,  which  is  in  truth  nothing  more  than  a  neces- 
sary and  violent  presumption  of  fact,  admitting  of  no  contradiction.  Who  can  doubt 
that  the  natural  person  of  the  king  is  immediately  attacked  and  attempted  by  him 
who  attempts  to  depose  him  1  Many,  many  hours  were  spent  at  the  bar  in  this 
discussion;  but,  on  the  part  of  the  prisoner,  it  was  manifest  that,  after  the  discussion, 
the  argument  broke  down  under  the  case,  and  it  became  impossible  for  either  of  the 
gentlemen  to  set  himself  distinctly  to  maintain  this  proposition,  that  an  honest  man 
could  fairly  doubt  whether  he  who  conspires  to  depose  the  king  has  compassed  or 
imagined  his  death." — Having  thus  stated  the  law,  the  lord  chief  justice  pointed  the 
attention  of  the  jury  to  the  particular  facts,  from  which  they  would  have  to  draw  their 
inference  respecting  the  objects  of  the  prisoner,  and  shortly  noticed  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal arguments  of  counsel  upon  the  details. 

The  interest  excited  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  especially  in 
the  metropolis,  by  this  trial,  which  had  now  lasted  nine  days,  was 
intense  and  almost  universal.  Among  the  higher  and  better  informed 
classes  there  were  various  opinions;  some  being  persuaded  that  the 
safety  of  the  crown,  and  of  the  whole  fabric  whereof  the  crown  is  the 
keystone,  depended  on  a  conviction :  others  maintaining  that  the  pri- 
soners had  only  sought  constitutional  ends  by  justifiable  means;  while 
a  third  party,  who  questioned  the  ends  and  condemned  the  means, 
were  yet  disquieted  by  an  apprehension  lest  the  law  of  treason  should 
be  dangerously  extended  by  construction. — Among  the  less  educated 
orders  there  was  less  variety  of  sentiment.  With  them  an  affair  of 
this  kind  is  one  of  feeling  rather  than  of  argument :  they,  in  general, 
desire  the  acquittal  of  any  prisoner,  except  where  his  offence  has  been 
attended  with  some  cruel  or  disgusting  circumstance :  and  it  was 
natural,  therefore,  that  where,  in  addition  to  the  usual  prejudice  in 
favour  of  persons  accused,  there  was  a  very  strong  political  inflam- 
mation, the  populace  of  London  should  be  highly  excited. 

"  Every  evening,"  says  Lord  Eldon,  in  his  Anecdote  Book,  "upon 
my  leaving  the  court,  a  signal  was  given  that  I  was  coming  out,  for 
a  general  hissing  and  hooting  of  the  attorney-general.  This  went 
through  the  street  in  which  the  court  sat  (the  Old  Bailey),  from  one 
end  of  it  to  the  other,  and  was  continued  all  the  way  down  to  Lud- 
gate  Hill  and  by  Fleet  Market." 

He  related  to  Mrs.  Forster,  and  the  Law  Magazine  of  August, 


150  LIFE  OF  LORD 

1838,  gives  the  story  a  little  more  circumstantially,  that  at  the  close 
of  one  of  the  days  of  this  long  trial,  as  he  was  about  to  leave  the 
court,  Mr.  Garrow  said  to  him,  "Mr.  Attorney,  do  not  pass  that  tall 
man  at  the  end  of  the  table."  The  man  had  a  suspicious  appear- 
ance, and  had  stationed  himself  for  some  time  at  the  door  with  his 
hat  pulled  over  his  brows.  "Why  not  pass  him?"  asked  Mr.  Law. 
"He  has  been  here,"  replied  Mr.  Garrow,  "during  the  whole  trial, 
with  his  eyes  constantly  fixed  on  the  attorney-general."  "I  will 
pass  him,"  said  Mr.  Law.  "And  so  will  I,"  said  Sir  John  Scott. 
This  was  opposed  by  the  counsel  and  others  round  about,  who  added, 
that  there  was  a  mob  collecting,  and  that  they  did  not  think  the 
attorney-general's  life  would  be  safe.  He  answered,  "  I  tell  you, 
gentlemen,  I  will  not  stay  here ;  for,  happen  what  may,  the  king's 
attorney-general  must  not  show  a  white  feather."  \Nihat  followed 
was  thus  related  by  him  to  Mrs.  Forster. 

"  I  went  and  left  them,  but  I  will  not  say  that  I  did  not  give  a  lit- 
tle look  over  my  shoulder,  at  the  man  with  a  slouched  hat,  as  I  passed 
him ;  however,  he  did  me  no  harm,  and  I  proceeded  for  some  time 
unmolested.  The  mob  kept  thickening  around  me,  till  I  came  to 
Fleet  Street,  one  of  the  worst  parts  of  London  that  I  had  to  pass 
through,  and  the  cries  began  to  be  rather  threatening,  '  Down  with 
him,' — 'Now  is  the  time,  lads,' — 'Do  for  him,' — and  various  others, 
horrible  enough.  So  I  stood  up,  and  spoke  as  loud  as  I  could — 
'  You  may  do  for  me  if  you  like,  but  remember  there  will  be  another 
attorney-general  before  eight  o'clock  to-morrow  morning;  the  king 
will  not  allow  the  trials  to  be  stopped.'  Upon  this,  one  man  shouted 
out,  '  Say  you  so  ?  you  are  right  to  tell  us.  Let's  give  him  three 
cheers,  lads.'  And  they  actually  cheered  me,  and  I  got  safe  to  my 
own  door.  When  I  was  waiting  to  be  let  in,  I  felt  a  little  queer- 
ish  at  seeing  close  to  me  the  identical  man  with  the  slouched  hat ; 
and  I  believe  I  gave  him  one  or  two  rather  suspicious  looks,  for 
he  came  forward  and  said,  '  Sir  John,  you  need  not  be  afraid  of  me ; 
every  night  since  these  trials  commenced,  I  have  seen  you  safe  home 
before  I  went  to  my  own  home,  and  I  will  continue  to  do  so  until 
they  are  over;  good  evening,  sir.'  I  had  never  seen  the  man  before. 
I  afterwards  found  out  who  he  was,  (I  had  some  trouble  in  doing  so, 
for  he  did  not  make  himself  known,)  and  I  took  care  he  should  feel 
my  gratitude."  This  stranger's  interest  in  Sir  John  Scott's  safety  is 
accounted  for  in  the  Law  Magazine  of  August,  1838,  where  it  appears 
that  Sir  John  Scott  had  once  done  an  act  of  great  kindness  to  the 
man's  father. 

"Erskine,"  says  the  Anecdote  Book,  "who  was  counsel  for  the 
defendants,  was  of  course  extremely  popular.  He  was  received  with 
universal  plaudits;  and  there  was  nothing  to  disturb  his  enjoyment  of 
this  contrast  or  to  soften  my  mortification,  until,  on  one  evening,  (the 
evening  of  the  verdict,)  the  multitude  which  had  thought  proper  to 
take  his  horses  from  his  carriage,  that  they  might  draw  him  home, 
conceived  among  them  such  a  fancy  for  a  patriot's  horses  as  not  to 
return  them,  but  to  keep  them  for  their  own  use  and  benefit." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  151 

Mr.  Erskine  behaved  generously  and  gallantly  throughout  this 
excitement.  When  the  people,  with  whom  he  was  then  the  first 
fevourite,  were  about  to  stop  Sir  John  Scott,  Mr.  Erskine  called  out 
to  them,  "  I  will  not  go  on  without  the  attorney-general."  Lord 
Eldon,  in  relating  to  Mrs.  Forster  the  violence  of  the  mob,  did  not 
forget  to  mention  his  rival's  good  feeling.  "  Erskine,"  said  he, 
"  caused  his  carriage  to  go  slowly,  till  he  saw  me  out  of  danger." 

The  first  trial  was  now  in  its  concluding  stage.  The  witnesses, 
for  the  most  part,  had  established  the  facts  they  were  called  to  prove  ; 
but  the  extreme  length  and  complication  of  the  circumstances,  and 
the  fiercely  disputed  premises  of  law  upon  which  the  indictments  were 
founded,  left  the  whole  question  a  difficult  one,  and  rendered  the 
result  a  matter  of  the  utmost  uncertainty  and  of  the  deepest  interest. 
The  jury  had,  from  the  commencement  of  the  trial,  been  kept  each 
night  under  the  watch  of  four  officers,  apart  from  all  other  persons, 
even  from  their  own  families ;  and  it  was,  therefore,  hardly  possible 
to  conjecture  what  impressions  all,  or  any,  of  those  upon  whose  de- 
rision this  great  issue  was  depending,  had  received,  either  from  the 
evidence  or  from  the  addresses  of  counsel.  In  this  state  of  suspense, 
the  public  mind  had  now  remained  for  a  period  of  nine  days  and  eight 
nights ;  from  the  morning  of  Tuesday  the  28th  of  October  to  the  after- 
noon of  Wednesday  the  5th  of  November.  Thus,  when  the  jury,  on 
the  conclusion  of  the  judge's  address  at  half-past  twelve  of  the  last- 
mentioned  day,  retired  to  consider  their  verdict — and  during  the  whole 
time  of  their  deliberation,  which  lasted  for  more  than  three  hours — 
the  most  intense  anxiety  pervaded  the  place  of  trial  and  spread  itself 
throughout  the  metropolis.  The  following  account  of  the  result,  ex- 
tracted from  the  Law  Magazine  of  August,  1838,  is  there  reported  to 
have  been  given  by  Sir  John  Scott  himself: — 

"  The  jury  retired  to  deliberate  :  upon  their  return  their  names  were 
called  over.  I  never  shall  forget  that  awful  moment.  '  Gentlemen 
of  the  jury,'  said  the  clerk  of  arraigns,  '  are  you  agreed  in  your  ver- 
dict ?  What  say  you  ?  Is  Thomas  Hardy  guilty  of  the  high  treason 
of  which  he  stands  indicted,  or  is  he  not  guilty  ? ' — '  Not  guilty,'  in 
an  audible  tone,  was  the  answer.  It  was  received  in  court  silently 
and  without  noise — all  was  still — but  the  shout  of  the  people  was  heard 
down  the  whole  street.  The  door  of  the  jury-box  was  opened  for 
the  jurymen  to  retire :  the  crowd  separated  for  them  as  the  saviours 
of  their  country." 

This  failure  of  the  prosecution  against  the  person  first  brought  to 
trial  much  aggravated  the  difficulties  of  the  law  officers  with  respect 
to  the  prisoners  who  remained.  It  was  an  anxious  question  which 
then  presented  itself,  whether  they  should  regard  the  verdict  of  this 
first  jury  as  a  conclusive  sample  of  the  opinion  entertained  by  the 
generality  of  respectable  persons  in  their  rank  of  life,  and  desist,  on 
this  hint,  from  any  further  proceeding,  or  whether  they  should  refer 
the  acquittal  of  Hardy  to  some  accidental  feeling,  prejudice  or  mis- 
apprehension in  the  breasts  of  those  particular  jurymen,  or  some  of 
them,  and  take  the  sense  of  another  jury  upon  the  case  of  one  or  more 


• 

152  LIFE  OF  LORD 

of  the  remaining  prisoners.  The  latter  course  was  resolved  on.  It 
was  not,  perhaps,  a  very  hopeful,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  a  necessary 
decision.  If  the  government  themselves,  and  particularly  the  law 
officers,  were  still  satisfied,  after  hearing  all  that  could  be  urged  for 
the  first-tried  defendant,  that  he  and  those  combined  with  him  were 
guilty  of  high  treason,  his  fortune  in  escaping  -ought  not  to  leave  the 
country  in  danger  from  his  confederates,  so  long  as  there  appeared  a 
reasonable  ground  to  believe  that  a  second  jury  would  take  a  stricter 
view  of  their  designs. 

Accordingly,  on  Monday,  the  17th  of  November,  the  Rev.  John 
Home  Tooke  was  placed  at  the  bar  of  the  Old  Bailey  on  his  trial  for 
high  treason.  The  counsel,  on  both  sides,  were  the  same  as  on  the 
trial  of  Hardy;  with  the  addition,  on  the  crown's  behalf,  of  the  Hon. 
Spencer  Perceval,  afterwards  first  minister  of  the  crown.  This  trial 
lasted  six  days :  the  evidence  given  and  the  topics  urged  on  both 
sides  were,  in  general,  of  the  same  character  as  in  Hardy's  case ;  and, 
on  the  Saturday  evening,  the  jury,  after  an  absence  of  only  about  eight 
minutes,  returned  a  verdict  of  "  not  guilty." 

The  violent  temper  of  those  times  made  it  extremely  difficult  to 
fulfil  the  duty  of  conducting  political  prosecutions  with  the  requisite 
combination  of  vigour  and  mildness.  These  qualities,  however,  Sir 
John  Scott  evinced  in  remarkable  conjunction  through  the  whole  of 
the  trials  :  although,  as  is  well  observed  in  the  Law  Magazine,  "  it 
required  all  his  tact  and  firmness  to  restrain  the  counsel  for  the  prison- 
ers, Mr.  Erskine,  then  rioting  in  the  exuberance  of  success  and  animal 
spirits,  from  overleaping  all  the  barriers  of  sober  form."  The  very 
few  and  momentary  altercations  which  occurred  between  them  are 
worthy  of  record,  as  specimens  of  the  manner  and  character  of  two 
high-spirited  and  naturally  courteous  gentlemen,  of  whom  the  one, 
under  the  excitingly  perilous  circumstances  of  his  client,  was  fairly 
pardonable  for  a  little  "  brave  disorder" — while  the  other,  recollecting 
always  the  dignity  of  his  office  and  charge,  and  the  national  import- 
ance of  the  issue  raised  by  him,  earned  the  difficult  praise  of  repressing 
irregularity  without  raising  irritation. 

Mr.  Erskine,  in  cross-examining  a  witness,  named  Alexander, 
assumed  him  to  have  stated  more  than  he  had  really  said.  The  at- 
torney-general, on  the  repetition  of  this  irregularity,  interposed  for 
the  protection  of  the  witness,  explained  the  particular  in  which  Mr. 
Erskine  had  overstated  the  evidence,  and  added  — 

I  say  that  is  not  only  not  correct,  but  it  is  very  far  from  correctness. 

Mr.  Erskine. — I  am  exceedingly  glad  to  be  corrected,  and  I  shall  esteem  it  no 
interruption  whenever  you  do,  because  I  am  so  used  to  this  work  that  nothing  can 
put  me  out. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre  having  here  interposed  a  couple  of  ques- 
tions, Mr.  Erskine  said, — 

I  am  entitled  to  have  the  benefit  of  this  gentleman's  deportment:  if  your  lordship 
will  just  indulge  me  for  one  moment, — 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre,.— Give  him  fair  play. 

Mr.  Erskine.— He  has  certainly  had  fair  play  I  wish  we  had  as  fair  play;  but  that 
is  not  addressed  to  the  court. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  153 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — But  whom  do  you  mean  7 
Mr.  Erskine. — I  say  the  prisoner  has  a  right  to  fair  play. 
Mr.  Garrow. — But  you  said  it  was  not  said  to  the  court. 
Mr.  Erskine. — But  I  am  not  to  be  called  to  order  by  the  bar. 

The  attorney-general,  who  perceived  that  the  momentary  warmth 
of  his  opponent  was  already  subsiding,  forbore  from  any  rejoinder ; 
and  Mr.  Erskine  then  proceeded  with  his  examination,  avoiding  the 
irregularity  which  had  occasioned  the  attorney-general's  interruption. 

A  couple  of  hours  afterwards,  the  attorney-general  was  obliged  to 
vindicate  the  prosecution  a  little  more  seriously.  Mr.  Garrow  was 
examining  a  witness  about  the  before-mentioned  play-bill,  called  "La 
Guillotine,  or  George's  Head  in  a  Basket ;"  when,  upon  an  observa- 
tion made  by  the  lord  chief  justice,  Mr.  Erskine  exclaimed: — 

The  paper  was  fabricated  by  the  spies  who  support  the  prosecution. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — You  shall  not  say  that  till  you  prove  it. 

Mr.  Erskine. — I  shall  prove  it. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — Till  you  prove  that,  you  ought  not  to  say  it;  it  is  a  charge 
that  ought  not  to  be  made. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. — If  there  is  any  point  between  you  which  should  be 
heard,  the  appeal,  to  be  sure,  must  be  made  to  the  court. 

Mr.  Garrow. — I  wish  it  was;  we  should  save  much  time  and  trouble. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. — A  little  indulgence,  on  both  sides,  would  save  much 
time  and  trouble. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — When  a  paper  is  produced  which  your  lordships  hold  to 
be  legal  evidence  to  be  read,  it  must  not  and  shall  not  be  stated  in  this  court,  unless 
it  is  proved,  that  the  paper  is  fabricated  by  the  spies  who  carry  on  the  prosecution. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. — I  hope  nothing  of  that  kind  has  been  said,  for  it  was  an, 
improper  thing  to  be  said ;  and  if  it  dropt  from  any  body,  it  was  an  inadvertent  thing. 

In  a  few  minutes  more  there  was  another  departure  from  the  regular 
line  of  examination ;  and  then,  for  the  only  time,  the  attorney-general 
allowed  a  severe  expression  to  escape  him,  for  which,  however,  he 
immediately  apologized.  A  witness  having  given  some  evidence 
respecting  the  sentiments  originally  entertained  on  the  subject  of 
reform  by  Mr.  Pitt  and  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  Mr.  Erskine  said, — 

I  wish  it  to  be  understood  I  am  no  advocate  for  the  conscience  of  the  Duke  of 
Richmond  nor  Mr.  Pitt. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. — It  is  certainly  true ;  but  this  is  rather  too  grave  an  occa- 
sion for  such  an  observation. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — It  is  not  a  proper  occasion  for  this  frippery. 

Mr.  Erskine. — I  say  that  is  not  a  proper  expression. 

Mr.  Attorney-General.— I  will  repeat  it. 

Mr.  Erskine. — You  will  not  repeat  it  anywhere  else. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. — The  gentlemen,  I  hope,  will  recollect  that  they  are  upoa 
a  solemn  trial. 

Mr.  Erskine. — I  think  it  is  really  hard  upon  me,  upon  this  solemn  trial,  that  I  should 
be  eternally  assailed  by  these  gentlemen,  when  I  have  the  arduous  task  of  extracting 
the  truth  from  these  witnesses. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. — If  any  person  were  disposed  (which  I  dare  say  no  one 
is)  to  give  you  any  interruption,  it  would  be  my  duty  to  preserve  order,  and  take  care 
you  should  be  permitted  to  go  on  in  your  business  without  interruption;  but  it  is  impos- 
sible thfc  cause  can  go  on,  unless  the  gentlemen  at  the  bar  will  a  little  understand  one 
another,  and  by  mutual  forbearance  assist  one  another;  you  are  a  little  too  apt  to 
break  out,  and  I  think  there  has  been  a  little  inclination  sometimes  to  observe  more 
upon  that  than  the  occasion  calls  for. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — As  far  as  came  from  me,  I  am  sorry  for  it. 

Again,  however,  on  the  same  day,  Mr.  Erskine  overstepped  the 


154  LIFE  OF  LORD 

limit  of  regular  examination,  by  addressing  a  witness  named  Sander- 
son with  the  question, — 

What  date  have  you  taken,  good  Mr.  Spy? 

Witness.— I  do  not  think  upon  such  an  occasion  being  a  spy  is  any  disgrace. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. — These  observations  are  more  proper  when  you  come  to 
address  the  jury. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — Really  that  is  not  a  proper  way  to  examine  witnesses. 
Lord  Holt  held  strong  language  to  such  a  sort  of  address  from  a  counsel  to  a  witness 
who  avowed  himself  a  spy. 

Mr.  Erskine. — I  am  sure  I  shall  always  pay  that  attention  to  the  court  which  is  due 
from  me;  but  I  am  not  to  be  told  by  the  attorney-general  how  I  am  to  examine  a 
witness. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — I  thought  you  had  not  heard  his  lordship. 

Mr.  Ersldne. — I  am  much  obliged  to  his  lordship  for  the  admonition  he  gave  me. 
I  heard  his  lordship,  and  I  heard  you,  which  I  should  not  have  heard. 

The  attorney-general,  though  clearly  in  the  right,  yet,  as  Mr.  Er- 
skine had  intimated  his  intention  to  desist,  was  content  to  let  the  heat 
thus  evaporate. 

After  this,  there  was  no  other  conflict  between  these  leaders.  The 
only  approach  to  a  dispute  was  on  the  next  day  but  one,  when,  on  an 
objection  made  by  the  attorney-general  to  a  question  put  for  the  pri- 
soner, Mr.  Erskine  said, — 

Are  you  afraid  of  the  question  ? 

Mr.  Attorney-  General. — I  will  not  have  the  question  put  in  that  form ;  I  am  afraid 
of  questions  that  ought  not  to  be  put. 

Mr.  Erskine. — Afraid  of  the  question  being  put? 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — I  am  afraid  of  no  question  that  ought  to  be  put,  but  of 
questions  that  ought  not  to  be  put. 

Mr.  Erskine. — I  don't  understand  you. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — I  think  you  would  not  have  made  the  observation  if  you 
did. 

Mr.  Erskine. — I  still  less  understand  you  now,  and  am  surprised  I  own. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. — What  is  the  question  that  you  think  there  is  any  doubt 
about  ?  Let  us  know  what  the  question  is,  and  the  court  will  give  their  assistance 
towards  mediating. 

The  discussion  was  kept  up  no  further. 

The  same  command  of  temper  was  visible  in  the  conduct  of  the 
prosecution  against  Mr.  Tooke ;  although  this  prisoner,  who  took  a 
good  deal  of  his  defence  into  his  own  hands,  managing  it  with  a  great 
air  of  unconcern,  and  passing  his  snuff-box  about  the  court,  was  some- 
times disposed  to  be  sarcastic  upon  the  law  officers  of  the  crown  and 
upon  the  bench  itself.  In  reference  to  an  attempt  which  had  formerly 
been  made  to  exclude  him  from  his  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  at  Cam- 
bridge, he  asked  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  Dr.  Beadon,  whom  he 
called  as  a  witness  for  the  defence  : 

Does  your  lordship  recollect  ever  any  other  person's  degree  being  opposed?— I  do 
not  at  present  recollect  any  other. 

Is  not  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  such  a  one  as  would  be  given  to  any  creature 
that  could  answer  to  rational  questions? 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre.— For  the  honour  of  the  university  you  will  not  pursue 
that,  Mr.  Tooke. 

Mr.  Tooke.— I  beg  your  lordship's  pardon :  it  is  of  some  consequence  to  me,  and 
does  not  affect  the  honour  of  the  university;  if  it  did,  I  am  too  faithful  a  son  of  the 
university  to  put  such  a  question;  for  I  mean  no  joke  upon  that  university. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre.— It  is  not  put  in  terms  that  are  quite  so  measured  as  you 
would,  upon  consideration,  put  it  in. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  155 

The  attorney-general,  in  the  cross-examination  of  the  bishop,  began 
thus : — 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — Do  you  know  any  thing  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Consti- 
tutional or  the  London  Corresponding  Societies  for  the  last  three  years? — Nothing 
at  all. 

Mr.  Tooke. — Is  not  that  question  almost  as  bad  as  my  speaking  of  the  master's 
degree?  And  now  we  are  even:  because  it  must  be  as  great  a  degree  of  insult  to 
ask  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester  about  the  Constitutional  Society  and  Corresponding 
Society,  as  my  speaking  lightly  of  the  qualification  for  a  master's  degree. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — I  will  not  let  this  pass: — without  rebuke  from  your  lord- 
ship, if  I  am  wrong— and  without  informing  this  court,  that  it  is  not  to  part,  upon 
this  occasion,  with  a  laugh. 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Eyre. — It  is  impossible  for  me  to  say  that  the  question  was 
irregular;  and  there  was  nothing  in  the  terms  of  it  that  conveyed  that  kind  of  objec- 
tion which  I  felt  to  the  other  question ;  at  the  same  time,  undoubtedly,  it  is  very 
evident  that  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester  could  not  possibly  know  any  thing  of  these 
societies. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — In  a  court  of  justice,  I  cannot  take  it  upon  my  notions  of 
what  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester  does  or  does  not  know.  What  is  evidence  must  come 
from  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester  as  well  as  from  any  other  man. 

In  commencing  his  general  reply  upon  the  whole  case,  the  attorney- 
general  made  some  allusion  to  his  own  feelings  and  his  own  responsi- 
bility : 

"  I  here  declare,''  said  he,  "  that  not  one  step  would  I  take  in  this  prosecution  repug- 
nant to  the  dictates  of  my  own  judgment,  exercised  according  to  what  my  conscience 
prescribes  to  that  judgment,  not  for  all  which  this  world  has  to  give  me.  Gentlemen, 
why  should  I?  You  will  allow  me  to  say,  after  all  that  has  passed,  that  I  have  no 
desire  with  respect  to  myself  in  this  cause,  but  that  my  name  should  go  down  to  pos- 
terity with  credit.  I  cannot  but  remember  this  is  an  interest  most  dear  to  me.  Upon 
no  other  account  my  name  will  be  transmitted  to  posterity: — with  these  proceedings 
it  must  be  transmitted.  That  name,  gentlemen,  cannot  go  do  down  to  that  posterity 
without  its  being  understood  by  posterity  what  have  been  my  actions  in  this  case. 
And  when  I  am  laid  in  my  grave,  after  the  interval  of  life  that  yet  remains  for  me, 
my  children,  I  hope  and  trust,  will  be  able  to  say  of  their  father,  that  he  endea- 
voured to  leave  them  an  inheritance,  by  attempting  to  give  them  an  example  of  public 
probity,  dearer  to  them  than  any  acquisition  or  any  honour  that  this  country  could 
have  given  the  living  father  to  transmit  to  them." 

"At  this  period,"  says  the  Law  Magazine,*  "Sir  John  Scott  shed 
tears;  and  to  the  surprise  of  the  court,  Mr.  Solicitor-General  was  seen  to 
weep  in  sympathy  with  the  emotion  of  his  friend. — 'Just  look  at  Mit- 
ford,'  was  the  remark  of  a  neighbour  to  Home  Tooke; '  what  on  earth 
is  he  crying  for?' — 'At  the  thought  of  the  little  inheritance,'  retorted 
Tooke,  'that  poor  Scott  is  likely  to  leave  his  children.'  Encouraged 
by  the  success  of  this  sally  and  the  scarcely  suppressed  merriment 
of  those  within  hearing,  the  accused  soon  contrived  to  fasten  a  public 
interruption  on  his  accuser."  This  happened  as  follows: — 

The  attorney-general,  speaking  of  the  design  to  compel  the  king  to 
govern  against  his  coronation  oath,  said, — 

"  He  ought  to  lose  his  life,  and,  I  trust,  would  be  willing  to  lose  his  life  rather  than 
to  govern  contrary  to  that  coronation  oath." 

Mr.  Tooke. — What !  is  the  attorney-general  talking  treason  ?  I  should  be  unhappy 
to  mistake  you:  did  you  say  the  king  ought  to  lose  his  life  if  he  took  any  other  Par- 
liament? 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — It  is  really  difficult  to  decide  for  one's  self,  whether  the 
interruption  is,  or  is  not  proper. 

*  No.  XLI.  pp.  78,  79. 


156  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Mr.  Tooke.— I  ask  pardon  of  the  learned  gentleman,  and  I  promise  I  will  not  .in- 
terrupt him  again  during  the  whole  of  his  reply.  I  only  wished  to  know  whether,  in. 
prosecuting  me  for  high  treason,  the  attorney-general  intentionally  said  something  far 
worse  than  any  thing  he  has  imputed  to  me. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  the  gentleman.  I  say  this  :  that 
the  King  of  Great  Britain  is  bound  by  his  coronation  oath,  to  govern  according  to  the 
laws  established  in  Parliament,  and  the  customs  of  the  same;  that  he  is  bound  by 
that  coronation  oath  to  resist  every  power  that  seeks  to  compel  him  to  govern  other- 
wise than  according  to  those  laws ;  that  it  must,  therefore,  be  understood,  that  the 
King  of  Great  Britain  would  resist  such  a  power  as  that,  because  he  would  be  acting 
only  in  the  exercise  of  his  sworn  duty:  and  in  resisting  such  a  power  as  that  he 
must  inevitably  lose  his  life. 

Mr.  Tooke,  however,  was  not  insensible  to  the  fairness  of  the  spirit 
in  which  the  prosecution  against  him  was  conducted.  The  attor- 
ney-general having  mentioned  certain  dates  as  proved,  Mr.  Tooke 
said, — 

What  the  attorney-general  states  to  be  proved,  I  am  sure  he  thinks  is  proved ;  bul 
it  is  possible  that  he  may  err,  and  I  think  he  does  now,  or  else  I  do  greatly. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — I  desire  to  say,  and  I  hope  1  do  not  do  wrong  when  I  tell 
you,  once  for  all,  that  when  I  state  that  I  have  proved  any  thing,  I  mean  to  say  no 
more  than  that  I  have  offered  evidence,  the  effect  of  which  is  for  the  consideration  of 
the  jury. 

Mr.  Tooke. — I  hope  I  have  not  hinted  or  insinuated  the  smallest  idea,  when  I  think 
you  have  misstated  any  thing,  but  that  it  is  the  effect  of  error  and  nothing  else. 

Mr.  Attorney-General. — I  am  always  obliged  to  you  when  you  correct  me. 

The  Morning  Post  of  the  15th  of  January,  1838,  relates,  that  a 
few  weeks  afterwards,  "  Lord  Eldon  met,  in  Westminster  Hall,  Mr. 
Home  Tooke,  who  walked  up  to  him  and  said,  '  Let  me  avail  my- 
self of  this  opportunity  to  express  my  sense  of  your  humane  and  con- 
siderate conduct  during  the  late  trials.'  " 

The  acquittal  of  Mr.  Tooke,  thus  immediately  following  that  of 
Hardy,  made  it  manifest  that  the  juries  of  England  were  not  prepared 
to  convict  other  prisoners  of  high  treason  upon  evidence  merely  simi- 
lar to  that  adduced  in  the  prosecutions  already  tried  ;  and  as  the 
proofs  against  Messrs.  Bonney,  Joyce,  Holcroft  and  Stewart  Kyd 
would  have  carried  the  case  no  farther  than  the  point  at  which  it  had 
twice  failed,  the  law  officers  thought  proper  to  open  an  acquittal  as 
to  those  four  prisoners.  In  the  instance  of  Thelwall,  against  whom 
there  existed  other  evidence,  the  prosecution  proceeded;  but  after  a 
trial  which  lasted  four  days,  the  jury  acquitted  him.  The  prosecutions 
against  the  remaining  prisoners  were  then  discontinued. 

The  discretion  of  the  law  officers  of  the  crown,  in  charging  the 
offence  of  these  prisoners  as  high  treason  rather  than  as  a  seditious 
misdemeanour,  has  been  often  questioned.  The  responsibility  of  the 
decision  rests  undoubtedly  on  the  attorney-general  of  that  day ;  and 
never  shrank  from  it.  The  following  is  his  vindication  of  himself, 
as  recorded  in  his  Anecdote  Book : 

"  The  trials  in  1794,  of  Hardy,  Tooke,  &c.,  for  high  treason,  at  the 
Old  Bailey,  were  the  most  important  proceedings  in  which  I  was  ever 
professionally  engaged.  As  I  was  blamed  by  some,  perhaps  by  many, 
for  indicting  them  for  high  treason,  instead  of  indicting  for  misde- 
meanour and  sedition  only,  I  record  here  the  reasons  which  led  me 
to  take  the  course  I  adopted,  and  to  produce  that  great  mass  of  evi- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  157 

dence  before  the  jury,  which  many  thought  perplexed  them  so  much, 
that  they  were  unable  to  draw  the  true  inferences.  When  the  socie- 
ties, of  which  these  individuals  were  members,  were  broken  up  by 
order  of  government,  and  many  of  the  members  (among  others  the 
individuals  indicted  and  tried)  were,  together  with  all  their  papers, 
and  particularly  those  respecting  the  proceedings  of  the  different 
affiliated  societies,  seized,  by  warrants,  on  suspicion  of  high  treason, 
such  of  the  judges  as  were  privy  councillors,  and  were  present  at  the 
many  and  long  examinations  of  the  parties  apprehended,  at  the  reading 
of  the  papers  seized,  and  at  the  examination  of  the  witnesses,  being 
called  upon  for  their  opinions,  stated  that,  in  their  judgment,  the  parties 
were  guilty  of  high  treason.  The  warrants  of  commitment  for  trial 
treated  them  as  parties  committed  on  account  of  high  treason.  The 
cases,  as  treasonable  cases,  were  the  subject  of  communications  to, 
and  debates  in  Parliament.  As  attorney-general  and  public  prose- 
cutor, I  did  not  think  myself  at  liberty  in  the  indictments  to  let  down 
the  character  of  the  offence.  The  mass  of  evidence,  in  my  judgment, 
was  such  as  ought  to  go  to  the  jury  for  their  opinion,  whether  they 
were  guilty  or  not  guilty  of  TREASON.  Unless  the  wrhole  evidence 
was  laid  before  the  jury,  it  would  have  been  impossible  that  the  coun- 
try could  ever  have  been  made  fully  acquainted  with  the  danger  to 
which  it  was  exposed,  if  these  persons  and  the  societies  to  which 
they  belonged,  had  actually  met  in  that  national  convention  which 
the  papers  seized  proved  that  they  were  about  to  hold,  and  which 
was  to  have  superseded  Parliament  itself;  and  it  appeared  to  me  to  be 
more  essential  to  securing  the  public  safety  that  the  whole  of  their  trans- 
actions should  be  published,  than  that  any  of  these  individuals  should 
be  convicted.  They,  too,  who  were  lawyers  and  judges,  having  stated 
their  opinion  that  these  were  cases  of  high  treason,  I  could  not  but  be 
aware  what  blame  would  have  been  thrown  upon  the  law  officers  of 
the  crown,  if  they  had  been  indicted  for  misdemeanour  and  the  evi- 
dence had  proved  a  case  of  high  treason,  which,  proved,  would  have 
entitled  them  to  an  acquittal  for  the  misdemeanour  ;  and  then  the  coun- 
try would  not  have  tolerated,  and  ought  not  to  have  tolerated,  that, 
after  such  an  acquittal,  their  lives  should  have  been  put  in  jeopardy  by 
another  indictment  for  high  treason.  It  was  true  that  a  charge  for 
misdemeanour  might  have  been  so  conducted,  as  not  to  risk  the  dan- 
ger of  acquittal  on  the  ground  of  guilt  of  a  higher  nature,  viz.,  by 
giving  no  more  of  the  evidence  than  just  enough  to  sustain  the  charge 
of  misdemeanour ;  but  then  the  great  object  of  satisfying  the  kingdom 
as  to  the  real  nature  of  the  case  could  not  possibly  have  been  attained. 
Fault  was  imputed  in  another  way,  viz.,  that  the  evidence  might  have 
been  less  largely  given  in  support  of  the  indictments  for  high  treason, 
and  so  the  probabilities  of  conviction  have  been  rendered  greater. 
But  to  this  I  had  two  objections.  1st.  That  by  so  proceeding,  the 
great  object  of  satisfying  the  country  and  making  them  aware  of  their 
danger  could  not  have  been  attained :  2dly,  (and  this  second  reason 
I  stated  in  the  strongest  terms,  at  consultations  with  those  who  assist- 
ed me  upon  this  great  occasion,  as  deciding  me  entirely,  when  they 


158  LIFE  OF  LORD 

pressed  for  a  short  case,  as  giving  the  best  chance  for  conviction,) 
that  it  was  a  principle  of  mine,  upon  which  I  had  ever  acted,  and 
ever  would  act,  when,  as  attorney-general,  I  was  prosecuting  for  the 
public,  and  more  especially  in  cases  that  affected  life,  that  the  jury 
impanneled  to  decide  the  question  between  the  country  and  the  pri- 
soner should  know  every  fact  and  circumstance  that  I  knew,  and  that 
I  never  could  sleep  again  if  they  convicted  a  man  upon  evidence 
before  them,  where  I  was  left  in  a  state  of  doubt  whether  they  would 
have  convicted  if  they  had  known  what  other  evidence  I  could  have 
laid  before  them.  I  therefore  opened  the  case,  and  the  evidence  at 
large,  in  a  speech  of  nine  hours.  The  trial  of  Hardy,  which  came  on 
first,  lasted  many  days.  It  was  said  that  it  would  have  been  better 
management  if  I  had  tried  Home  Tooke  first ;  but  I  had  convinced 
myself  that  that  would  have  been  unfair.  The  judge  who  summed  up 
the  evidence,  after  hearing  both  sides,  had  more  doubt  whether  the 
case  of  high  treason  was  made  out  than  he  had  when  he  attended 
the  privy  council.  Erskine  and  Gibbs,  the  prisoner's  counsel,  ably 
took  advantage,  particularly  the  latter,  of  the  prejudices  against  what 
is  called  constructive  treason:  the  jury  were  fatigued  and  puzzled; 
and  in  the  state  in  which  they  were,  it  cannot  be  surprising  that  they 
acquitted  the  accused.  When  a  little  time  had  enabled  the  public  to 
judge  coolly  about  the  proceeding,  the  public  mind  seemed  satisfied 
with  the  result — with  the  great  information  they  derived  from  the 
evidence  as  to  matters  which  so  intimately  affected  their  security 
(information  which  led  to  the  suppression  of  imminent  danger),  and 
with  the  moderation  and  temper  in  which  the  trials  had  been  con- 
ducted." 

From  this  account  of  his  own  opinions  and  motives,  it  will  be  seen 
that  there  is  no  foundation  for  the  report  which  represents  him  as 
having  advised  and  contended  that  the  prosecution  should  be  for  the 
minor  offence  of  sedition.  "  I  have  heard  him  say,"  observes  Mr. 
Farrer,  "  that  the  attorney-general  takes  an  oath  of  office  which  com- 
pels him  to  act  independently  of  the  cabinet,  and  that  it  is  his  duty 
to  resign  rather  than  be  a  party  to  proceedings  which  he  does  not  ap- 
prove." The  attorney-general  thus  appears  to  have  taken  the  same 
view  of  the  trials  as  the  minister  himself,  who,  on  the  16th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1795,  in  defending  the  Treasonable  Practices'  Bill,  took  occasion 
to  observe,  that  he  was  sure  the  trials,  and  the  evidence  produced 
upon  them,  had  had  a  strong  effect  upon  the  public,  and  that  the 
exposition  of  that  immense  mass  of  matter,  and  the  development  of 
the  real  designs  entertained  by  the  societies,  had  served  to  open  the 
eyes  of  the  unwary,  to  check  the  incautious,  and  to  deter  the  timid. 

That  such  results  were  likely  to  be  the  ultimate  fruit  of  these  trials 
was  hardly  considered  at  the  time  a  sufficient  compensation  for  their 
failure.  The  course  pursued  had,  as  Lord  Eldon  admits,  been  con- 
trary to  the  opinion  of  many,  whose  judgment  was,  from  the  beginning, 
that  the  crown  should  prosecute,  not  for  high  treason  where  failure 
was  probable,  but  for  seditious  misdemeanour  where  conviction  would 
have  been  certain.  They  considered  that  a  failure  on  a  trial  for  trea- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOIS".  159 

son  would,  by  giving  a  temporary  triumph  to  the  disaffected,  produce, 
for  a  while  at  least,  the  ill  effect  of  weakening  those  very  interests  of 
monarchical  government  which  it  was  the  whole  purpose  of  the  prose- 
cutions to  confirm.  And  it  must  be  admitted  to  them  that  if  the  charge 
had,  in  accordance  with  their  view,  been  framed  as  for  a  seditious 
misdemeanour  only,  and  the  evidence  confined,  as  Lord  Eldon  himself 
intimates  that  it  might  have  been,  within  such  limits  as  to  have  secured 
a  conviction  for  that  minor  offence,  there  would  still  have  been  nothing 
to  preclude  a  subsequent  publication  of  that  part  of  the  evidence 
which  had  been  spared  at  the  trials  :  by  which  course  the  government 
would  equally  have  conveyed  all  the  material  information  to  the  public 
mind,  would  have  had  credit  for  forbearance  in  not  aiming  at  the  lives 
of  the  accused,  and  would  have  finally  stood  in  the  position  of  suc- 
cessful vindicators  of  the  law  and  constitution. 

Such  are  the  arguments  on  both  sides  of  this  grave  question ':  and 
if,  at  this  day,  th«  preponderance  appear  to  be  against  the  policy  then 
pursued,  we  must  remember  that  we  are  now  looking  at  the  subject 
after  the  event,  and  that  the  judgments  which  decided  in  favour  of 
that  policy  were  those  of  Mr.  Pitt  and  of  Lord  Eldon. 


160  LIFE  OF  LORD 

. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
1795—1797. 

Suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  continued :  attorney-general's  speech. — State 
of  public  feeling  at  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  October,  1795. — Attempt  on  the 
king's  life. — Treasonable  Attempts  and  Seditious  Meetings  Bills,  prepared  by  the 
attorney-general:  his  speech  on  the  former:  both  enacted. — Prosecution  of  Mr. 
Reeves. — Stories  of  smugglers. — Serjeant  Hill — Lord  Thurlow. — A  seditious  boy. 
— Lord  Nelson. — James  Boswell. 

PARLIAMENT  assembled  for  the  dispatch  of  business  on  the  30th  of 
December:  and,  on  the  15th  of  January,  in  the  new  year  1795,  the 
attorney-general  moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill,  continuing  for  a 
further  term  the  act  of  the  preceding  session,  by  which  the  Habeas 
Corpus  had,  as  to  certain  cases,  been  suspended.  This  continuance 
of  the  suspension  was  strongly  condemned  by  the  opposition,  as  un- 
necessary and  unconstitutional.  The  attorney-general,  on  the  23d  of 
January,  in  following  Mr.  Lambton's  opening  speech  upon  the  second 
reading,  justified  the  measure  at  considerable  length. 

He  contended  that  the  result  of  the  late  trials  by  no  means  proved  the  bill  now  in 
question  to  be  unnecessary.  The  juries,  who  acquitted  the  individual  prisoners, 
might  not  perhaps  differ  from  Parliament  in  their  view  of  the  general  conspiracy; 
and,  at  all  events,  this  was  a  subject  on  which  Parliament  was  competent  to  decide  for 
itself,  independently  of  the  sentiments  of  any  jury.  After  vindicating  the  law  officers 
who  had  judged  those  cases  proper  to  be  submitted  for  trial,  and  the  grand  jury  who 
had  found  the  bills,  he  proceeded  to  observe,  that  a  legal  acquittal  was  not  necessa- 
rily a  moral  one.  He  would  put  a  case  upon  this  subject.  Suppose,  upon  a  charge 
of  treason,  any  gentleman  of  unblemished  honour  were  to  give  evidence  of  an  overt 
act,  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  man  who  heard  him,  still,  if  there  was  no  other  evi- 
dence, the  prisoner  must  be  acquitted ;  because  the  law  says,  there  must  be  two  wit- 
nesses. Here  would  be  a  case  of  a  verdict  of  not  guilty,  in  which  every  person  must 
be  satisfied  of  the  real  guilt  of  the  person  acquitted.  There  were  cases  even,  in  which 
the  confession  of  guilt  by  the  party  accused  could  not  legally  be  received  against  him 
in  evidence.  In  such  cases,  though  a  jury  might  be  bound  by  law  to  acquit  the  pri- 
soner, could  any  man  think  that  the  verdict  of  not  guilty  was  a  proof  of  moral  inno- 
cence 1  He  would  state  to  the  House  a  most  extraordinary  fact,  in  corroboration  of 
the  argument  he  had  just  been  maintaining.  While  he  and  his  learned  friend  (Mr. 
Erskine)  were  contending  at  the  trials  about  the  meaning  of  a  publication  of  one  of 
the  societies,  that  very  society  published  another  paper,  avowing  that  their  meaning 
in  the  former  publication  was  exactly  that  which  he  had  put  upon  it;  but  he  could 
not,  in  point  of  law,  produce  the  second  paper  to  prove  the  meaning  of  the  first,  be- 
cause the  latter  paper  was  written  after  the  prisoner  had  been  taken  into  custody. 
Here  was  a  case  in  which  no  human  being  could  doubt  the  meaning  of  the  paper; 
but  yet  he  was  prevented  by  technical  rules  from  proving  it.  "Let  us  then,"  con- 
tinued the  attorney-general,  "preserve  the  constitution  in  all  its  branches— let  us  pre- 
serve it  in  Parliament— let  us  preserve  it  before  juries.  Let  us  preserve  it,  not  by 
sacrificing:  the  one  branch  to  the  other,  but  by  giving  to  each  its  due  portion  of  re- 
spect."  He  then  observed,  that  societies  whose  object  was  to  introduce  the  French 
system  of  government,  were  wholly  irreconcilable  with  the  government  of  England. 
These  societies  had  never  addressed  the  French  convention  till  after  the  deposition  of 
the  King  of  France  ;  but  when  the  king  had  been  deposed,  then  the  French  conven- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  161 

tion  was  deemed  worthy  of  a  correspondence  with  the  English  societies,  who,  from 
that  time,  made  numerous  communications  to  it.  He  read  a  variety  of  extracts  from 
this  correspondence,  evincing  identity  of  object  on  both'sides  of  the  Channel.  He 
animadverted  upon  the  mischievous  writings  of  some  authors  then  very  popular  with 
the  revolutionary  party,  and  censured  the  language  of  those  members  of  the  opposi- 
tion, who  applied  the  light  and  inadequate  epitaphs  of  "  idle  and  foolish"  to  the  con- 
duct of  those  who  had  adopted  their  scandalous  doctrines,  and  had  expressed  a  desire 
for  a  National  Convention  in  England.  While  such  opinions  were  in  motion,  was  it  not 
absolutely  necessary  that  government  should  be  armed  with  extraordinary  powers  to 
resist  them?  The  month  of  November,  1792,  in  which  was  voted  the  address  from 
the  London  Constitutional  Society  to  the  National  Convention,  was  also  the  month  in 
which  that  convention  passed  it's  famous  decree,  offering  to  assist  the  subjects  of 
every  country  against  their  governors. — After  giving  a  general  history  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  revolutionary  societies  in  England  from  that  month  of  November, 
1792,  to  the  meeting  at  Chalk  Farm,  in  1794,  he  dwelt  upon  the  extensive  prepara- 
tions of  arms,  manufactured  all  alike  in  so  many  parts  of  the  kingdom  at  the  same 
time,  and  observed  that  they  could  not  be  supposed  to  have  come  to  such  a  resem- 
blance by  mere  accident.  On  these  grounds  he  must  maintain  the  indispensable 
necessity  of  this  bill :  which  bill,  nevertheless,  he  should  be  so  unwilling  to  continue 
for  one  hour  beyond  such  necessity,  that  he  would  readily  agree  to  a  clause  enabling 
Parliament  to  repeal  it  even  in  the  present  session,  if  the  exigency  should  so  soon, 
have  ceased.  With  reference  to  what  had  fallen  from  Mr.  Lambton,  he  said  that  as 
often  as  he  saw  a  man  of  extensive  property  professing  the  sentiments  which  had 
been  uttered  by  the  last  speaker,  his  thoughts  recurred  to  the  following  passage  in  a 
letter  from  the  editors  of  the  Sheffield  Patriot  to  the  Constitutional  Society: — 

"  Whenever  you  find  a  man  apprehensive  that  an  attempt  at  reform  may  produce 
confusion  and  the  destruction  of  property,  ask  him  if  he  knows  such  a  gentleman, 
(naming  one  of  great  fortune  and  character  in  the  neighbourhood,  who  is  an  advo- 
cate for  reform.)  He  will  say  yes.  You  may  then  ask  him,  whether  he  supposes 
that  such  a  man  would  support  a  measure  which  had  a  tendency  to  destroy  all  pro- 
perty, and  consequently  to  ruin  him, — and  so  forth."  By  this  sort  of  sophism,  gen- 
tlemen who  really  were  anxious  for  the  good  of  the  country,  were  cited  as  examples 
to  seduce  uninformed  men  into  all  the  wild  and  dangerous  schemes  of  pretended 
reforms. 

To  this  day  there  are  men  of  "  great  fortune  and  character"  who 
patronise  such  movements  as  those  of  1794:  and  to  this  day  the 
fallacy,  thus  condemned  by  Sir  John  Scott,  continues  to  be  advanced 
by  mischievous  persons,  and  accepted  by  thoughtless  ones.  Yet  the 
decoy  is  a  palpable  one.  Let  the  "  man  of  great  fortune  and  cha- 
racter," who  favours  the  deprecated  movement,  be  one  of  the  most 
honest  and  well-meaning  of  mankind,  —  and  what  does  his  adhesion 
prove  ?  Surely  not  that  the  movement  involves  no  danger ;  but  only 
that  he  is  not  aware  of  its  involving  any.  And  then,  because  some 
such  well-meaning  persons  are  aware  of  no  danger,  it  is  to  be  taken 
as  proved  that  no  danger  can  exist !  But  there  is  another  class,  also 
possessing  "great  fortune,"  and  even  a  certain  "character,"  who 
lend  their  countenance  to  revolutionary  projects,  with  a  thorough 
perception  that  if  those  projects  should  succeed,  their  own  property 
and  position  would  be  destroyed :  —  are  these  men  more  entitled  to  the 
confidence  of  their  country  ?  Less  still :  since  they  mislead  humbler 
men,  with  a  thorough  knowledge  that  they  are  misleading  them.  All; 
indeed,  may  not  have  quite  the  same  motives  for  the  delusion.  Some 
lend  themselves  to  it  from  the  mere  lack  of  courage  to  leave  their 
party :  continuing  to  countenance  evils  which  they  fully  compre- 
hend, rather  than  break  with  a  club,  or  incur  a  taunt  in  Parliament 
or  the  press.  These  are  the  weaker  folk :  the  wickeder  are  those  who 
VOL.  i. — 11 


162  LIFE  OF  LORD 

encourage  mischievous  movement,  not  with  any  expectation  of  its 
success,°but,  on  the  contrary,  in  full  reliance  that  by  the  time  it  shall 
have  served  their  personal  ambition,  it  will  have  been  put  down  by 
truer  and  braver  men.  They  take  the  benefit  of  a  double  game: 
flourishing  upon  the  popularity  of  their  own  professions,  while  they 
hug  themselves  in  the  safety  of  other  men's  principles.  Such  is  the 
worth  of  the  warranty  which  property  gets  from  the  presence  of  a 
few  of  its  owners,  honest  or  dishonest,  in  the  ranks  of  revolution. 

Repeated  divisions  were  taken  on  this  and  on  the  subsequent  stages 
of  the  bill,  in  the  House  of  Commons.  After  some  resistance  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  where  a  provision  was  added  for  limiting  its  duration 
to  the  1st  of  July,  1795,  it  became  law  as  the  35th  of  Geo.  3.  c.  3. 

This  act  answered  its  purpose  while  it  lasted ;  but  it  had  no  sooner 
expired  than  the  dealers  in  agitation  renewed  their  endeavours  to 
excite  discontent  among  the  common  people.  The  war  against  the 
French,  into  which  the  majority  of  the  English  nation  had  rushed 
with  all  imaginable  eagerness,  had  disappointed  the  expectations  of 
the  sanguine ;  and  on  that  disappointment  the  seditious  societies 
were  incessantly  working.  Vast  meetings  were  held  in  the  open  air, 
at  which  several  active  members  of  the  Corresponding  Society  at- 
tempted to  distinguish  themselves  by  the  violence  of  their  harangues. 
Others  mingled  in  private  with  the  lower  classes,  and  profited  by  the 
ignorance  of  the  working  people  to  fill  them  with  the  most  injurious 
notions  of  the  government  and  its  objects.  Among  those  disturbers 
there  appear  to  have  been  some  who,  though  British-born  subjects, 
were  in  the  actual  employ  of  the  French  republic.  Their  machina- 
tions were  much  facilitated  by  a  scarcity  from  which  the  poor  endured 
severe  suffering. 

Such  was  the  state  of  circumstances  and  feelings  among  the  lower 
orders,  when  Parliament  assembled  on  the  29th  of  October,  1795. 
The  king,  who  went  in  person  to  the  House  of  Lords  for  the  purpose 
of  opening  the  session,  was  assailed,  both  in  going  and  in  returning, 
with  loud  expressions  of  displeasure  from  the  unusually  numerous 
crowd  collected  in  St.  James's  Park,  through  which  his  road  lay. 
Some  stones  were  thrown  at  the  state-coach ;  and  one  of  the  windows 
was  perforated,  apparently  by  a  bullet  from  an  air-gun.  On  this 
occasion,  says  Lord  Eldon  in  his  Anecdote  Book,  the  attendant,  who 
was  "one  of  the  great  officers  of  state,  started  at  the  shot  striking 
the  window  of  the  state-coach,  and  passing  through  it.  '  Sit  still, 
sir,'  said  the  king:  '  let  us  not  betray  any  fear  of  what  may  happen. '- 
In  those  times  I  have  heard  him  say,  that  he  might,  perhaps,  be  the 
last  king  of  England.  He  was  certainly  a  person  of  great  courage. 
When  Hatfield  shot  at  him  at  the  play-house,  and  when  Margaret 
Nicholson  tried  to  assassinate  him,  he  betrayed  no  fear.  When,  in 
the  riots  of  1780,  his  privy  councillors  hesitated  what  advice  to  give 
him,  he  said  he  should  act  without  their  advice,  and  would  order  his 
horse  to  the  door,  that  he  might  go  at  the  head  of  the  troops  in  per- 
son, and  give  them  orders  to  disperse  the  rioters  by  force." 

The  attack  upon  the  person  of  the  sovereign,  at  the  opening  of 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  163 

the  session,  suggested  the  necessity  of  some  special  enactments  for 
the  better  protection  of  the  monarchy  and  the  monarch.  The  govern- 
ment instructed  the  attorney-general  to  prepare  the  necessary  bills 
for  that  purpose.  He  performed  this  duty  with  so  great  dispatch, 
that  the  Treasonable  Attempts  Bill,  whereof  the  first  section,  defining 
certain  treasons,  is  now  a  permanent  law,  was  read  a  first  time  in  the 
House  of  Lords  on  the  6th  of  November:  and  on  the  10th  the  Se- 
ditious Meetings  Bill,  now  long  since  expired,  was  originated  in  the 
House  of  Commons. 

The  Treasonable  Attempts  Bill,  after  reciting  the  outrages  offered 
to  the  king's  person  at  the  opening  of  the  session,  and  the  daily 
multitude  of  seditious  pamphlets  and  speeches,  went  in  substance  to 
provide,  that  if  any  should  compass  the  king's  death  or  destruction, 
or  any  bodily  harm  tending  to  his  death  or  destruction  or  tending  to 
maim  or  wound  him  or  imprison  or  restrain  his  person,  —  or  should 
compass  to  deprive  or  depose  him  from  the  crown  of  this  or  any 
other  of  his  dominions,  or  to  levy  war  against  him  within  this  realm 
for  the  purpose  of  compelling  a  change  in  his  councils  or  constraining 
or  intimidating  either  House  of  Parliament — or  should  compass  to 
move  a  foreign  invasion  of  this  or  any  other  of  his  dominions,  —  and 
should  express  such  compassings  by  publishing  any  printing  or  wri- 
ting, or  by  any  overt  act :  every  such  offender  legally  convicted  should 
be  deemed  guilty  of  high  treason.  These  enactments  were  to  be  in 
force  until  the  end  of  the  next  session  after  a  demise  of  the  crown  ; 
but  before  that  event  occurred,  the  57  Geo.  3.  c.  6.  rendered  them 
perpetual.  The  Treasonable  Attempts  Bill  then  went  on  to  make  tem- 
porary provisions  against  seditious  words,  spoken,  written  or  printed, 
the  utterers  or  publishers  whereof  were  subjected  by  it,  on  a  first  con- 
viction, to  the  punishment  of  a  high  misdemeanour :  and,  on  a  second 
conviction,  either  to  the  same  punishment,  or  to  that  of  banishment 
or  of  transportation,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

The  Seditious  Meetings  Bill,  now  expired,  forbade,  except  in  cer- 
tain specified  cases,  the  assembling  of  more  than  fifty  persons  for  the 
purpose  or  on  the  pretext  of  petitioning  or  deliberating  upon  griev- 
ances, unless  under  certain  safeguards  thereby  prescribed.  It  gave 
powers  to  magistrates  for  dispersing  unlawful  assemblies :  it  provided 
severe  penalties  against  offenders,  and  it  suppressed  unlicensed  places 
for  political  discussions  or  discourses  where  money  was  charged  for 
admission. 

The  announcement  of  these  two  measures  brought  out  a  burst  of 
dissatisfaction  among  those  adverse  to  the  principles  of  the  govern- 
ment: the  unpopularity  of  any  such  restraint,  among  the  dangerous 
classes  of  the  public,  being  always  pretty  nearly  in  proportion  to  the 
necessity  for  it.  The  discussions  in  the  House  of  Commons,  upon 
the  Treasonable  Attempts  Bill  which  had  originated  in  the  Upper 
House,  gave  opportunities  to  the  opposition  of  making  fresh  animad- 
versions upon  the  attorney-general,  for  his  exercise  of  the  discretion 
constitutionally  vested  in  his  office.  In  the  debate  of  the  15th  of  No- 
vember, he  vindicated  himself  with  his  usual  firmness  and  moderation, 


164  LIFE  OF  LORD 

and  showed  the  necessity  of  the  proposed  enactment,  from  the  great 
multiplication  of  libels,  published  and  circulated  by  the  seditious 
societies.  On  the  30th,  in  answer  to  the  speech  of  Mr.  Erskine,  who 
opposed  the  motion  for  going  into  committee  on  this  bill, 

The  attorney-general  entered  at  large  into  the  consideration  of  its  enactments.  He 
considered  it  as  not  extending  the  Jaw  of  treason  beyond  the  true  intent  of  the  sta- 
tute of  Edward  III.,  but  only  as  defining  and  explaining  that  statute,  which  had  itself 
provided  that  in  all  cases  of  doubt  upon  its  construction,  recourse  should  be  had  to 
Parliament  for  a  more  definite  exposition.  Lord  Hale  had  said  that  this  statute 
included  an  imagination  to  depose  the  king;  whereas  Mr.  Erskine  had  argued,  that  to 
levy  war  against  the  king  was  not  treason,  unless  coupled  with  an  intention  to  com- 
pass his  death.  From  this  opinion  he  himself,  as  a  lawyer,  must  dissent ;  but  at  least 
there  was  the  sort  of  doubt  which  the  statute  of  Edward  had  prescribed  that  the 
legislature  should  solve.  Persuaded,  as  he  was,  by  the  unprecedented  assemblages 
and  libels  of  the  time,  that  a  design  existed  to  subvert  the  government  and  constitu- 
tion, he  would  not  incur  any  merited  charge  of  supineness.  In  addressing  himself, 
not  only  to  the  possessors  of  land  and  wealth,  but  to  those  also  who  felt  that  their  liber- 
ties were  a  valuable  property,  he  would  remind  them  that  a  revolution  could  never 
enrich  the  poorer  classes,  but  would  make  the  whole  country  "  poor  indeed."  He 
believed  that  the  provisions  now  proposed  as  to  treason  were  no  more  than  conso- 
nant with  the  old  law  of  the  land;  but  independently  of  any  prior  law,  and  of  any 
connection  with  the  societies,  he  would  ask  whether  the  recent  attack  on  the  sove- 
reign did  not  call  upon  the  legislature  for  some  clear  enactment  regarding  this  class 
of  crimes  ?  Proceeding  to  that  part  of  the  bill  which  dealt  with  seditious  misde- 
meanour, he  must  remark  that  it  was  no  innovation  to  treat  some  kinds  of  misde- 
meanour as  highly  punishable.  A  great  person,  Lord  Thurlow,  whom  he  was  bound 
to  revere,  and  whose  protection  of  him  demanded,  and  should  ever  have,  his  grati- 
tude and  esteem,  had,  when  attorney-general,  prosecuted  Mr.  HorneTooke  for  a  libel, 
and  had  moved  the  court  that  he  should  be  pilloried:  though  the  libel  upon  the  record 
•was  not,  like  the  modern  publications,  a  libel  on  the  government  and  constitution  of 
the  country,  degrading  to  the  most  sacred  and  honourable  characters,  but  merely  a  libel 
concerning  the  administration  of  the  kingdom.  The  present  bill,  in  subjecting  certain 
misdemeanours  to  certain  punishments,  gave  this  advantage  to  the  defendant,  that  it 
required,  as  in  case  of  treason,  two  witnesses  to  convict  him.  And  if  it  prescribed  a 
heavier  punishment  on  a  second  conviction,  was  there  not  good  reason  to  mark  a 
•wilful  and  malicious  repetition  with  a  more  signal  penalty?  He  had  done  his  utmost 
to  repress  the  evil  by  the  already  existing  laws:  for,  in  the  last  two  years,  there  had 
been  more  prosecutions  for  libels  than  in  any  twenty  years  before.  But  the  offence 

1  now  swelled  to  a  magnitude  with  which  the  existing  laws  were  no  longer  ade- 
quate to  cope :  and  unless  some  further  aid  were  given  by  Parliament  for  its  suppres- 

remed  W°Uld  t0°  late  Ie§ret  that  they  had  not  encountered  il  by  a  timejy 

The  bill  was  read  a  third  time  on  the  10th  of  December,  when  the 
attorney-general  again  reverted  to  several  of  the  topics  of  his  former 
speeches.  After  two  divisions,  the  bill  passed  on  the  same  night: 
and  it  stands  on  the  Statute  Book  as  the  36th  Geo.  3.  c.  7. 

The  Seditious  Meetings  Bill  was  opposed  with  a  temper  not  less 
acrimonious :  but  in  those  discussions  the  attorney-general  appears  to 
have  taken  no  active  part.  It  became  a  temporary  law,  as  the  36th 
Geo.  3.  c.  8. 

The  measures  thus  adopted  by  the  government  for  the  suppression 
political  disturbers,  begot,  among  the  friends  of  the  movement 
party,  a  keen  desire  of  retaliation :  and  an  occasion  speedily  presented 
itseJl  in  the  instance  of  a  pamphlet  entitled  Thoughts  on  the  English 
government,  the  work  of  John  Reeves,  Esq.,  a  magistrate  of  Middle- 
sex, and  an  active  partisan  of  the  government,  who  was  especially 
obnoxious  to  the  seditious  societies,  as  having  been  the  principal 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  165 

organizer  of  the  association  against  republicans  and  levellers.  In  this 
pamphlet  Mr.  Reeves  argued  that,  "with  the  exception  of  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  and  the  interposition  of 
juries,"  the  government  of  England  is  wholly  monarchical:  that  "the 
monarch  is  the  stock  from  which  have  sprung  those  goodly  branches 
of  the  legislature,  the  Lords  and  Commons" — but  that  "  they  are  still 
only  branches,  which  may  be  lopped  off,  and  the  tree  is  a  tree  still : 
shorn  indeed  of  its  honours,  but  not,  like  them,  cast  into  the  fire. 
The  kingly  government  may  go  on,  in  all  its  functions,  without  Lords 
or  Commons :  it  has  heretofore  done  so  for  years  together,  and  in  our 
times  it  does  so  during  every  recess  of  Parliament ;  but,  without  the 
king,  his  Parliament  is  no  more."  The  opposition,  who  had  been 
unable  to  discern  any  danger  to  the  constitution  in  the  publications  of 
the  seditious  societies,  were  horror-stricken  by  the  theory  of  despotism 
which  they  descried  in  these  assertions  of  Mr.  Reeves.  The  minis- 
ters, with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Windham,  acquiesced  in  a  motion  of 
Mr.  Sheridan,  made  on  the  23d  and  amended  on  the  26th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1795,  which  affirmed  that  the  pamphlet  was  a  scandalous  and 
seditious  libel,  and  a  high  breach  of  privilege. 

The  attorney-general,  however,  observed,  that  juries  sometimes  differed  in  opinion 
from  the  House,  and  acquitted  persons  whose  prosecution  the  House  had  directed. 
He  declined  to  give  his  opinion  whether  this  work  were  a  libel  or  not.  He  said  that 
it  was  for  the  House  to  decide  that  question,  and  that,  if  ordered  to  prosecute,  he 
would  discharge  his  duty  faithfully. 

Mr.  Sheridan's  motion  having  been  carried,  with  only  two  dissent- 
ing voices,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  ascertain  the  author:  and  it 
reported  that  the  author  was  Mr.  Reeves.  Mr.  Sheridan  then  pro- 
posed, that  instead  of  directing  Mr.  Reeves  to  be  prosecuted,  the 
House  should  order  the  pamphlet  to  be  burnt  by  the  common  hang- 
man :  which  proposal  he  intimated  his  intention  of  following  up,  by  a 
motion  for  an  address  to  the  crown,  praying  that  Mr.  Reeves  might  be 
removed  from  any  place  of  trust.  Instead,  however,  of  adopting  the 
suggestions  of  Mr.  Sheridan,  the  House  directed  the  attorney-general 
to  prosecute.  These  debates  extended  through  several  evenings  in 
the  latter  part  of  November  and  the  first  half  of  December.  On  the 
20th  of  the  following  May,  Mr.  Reeves  was  brought  to  trial,  and  ac- 
quitted :  the  jury,  however,  expressing  their  opinion  that  the  publica- 
tion was  a  very  improper  one,  though  the  motives  of  the  author  were 
not  of  the  criminal  nature  laid  in  the  indictment.  This  animadver- 
sion appears,  from  a  note,  26  State  Trials,  p.  594,  to  have  been  forced 
by  one  of  the  jurymen  upon  the  other  eleven,  as  the  price  of  his  con- 
currence in  the  acquittal. 

On  the  19th  of  May,  the  day  preceding  this  trial,  Parliament  had 
been  dissolved.  The  attorney-general's  connection  with  Weobly  now 
ceased,  and  he  was  returned  to  Parliament  for  Boroughb ridge,  in 
Yorkshire,  with  Sir  Francis  Burdett  for  his  colleague. 

The  years  1796  and  1797,  though  fertile  in  government  prosecu- 
tions, had  not  called  forth  any  great  parliamentary  exertion  on  the 
part  of  the  attorney-general.  But  the  Anecdote  Book  contains  some 


166  LIFE  OF  LORD 

amusing  recollections  which  belong  to  the   period  of  his   official 

service. 

"  When  I  was  solicitor  or  attorney-general,"  says  he,  "  we  had  this 
ino-enious  case  of  smuggling  proved.  A  person  at  Dover  smuggled 
3000  pairs  of  French  gloves.  He  sent  all  the  right-hand  gloves  to 
London.  They  were  seized  and  sold.  Nobody  would  buy  right- 
hand  gloves,  who  had  not  the  left-hand  gloves.  The  smuggler  there- - 
fore  bought  them  for  a  mere  trifle.  Having  purchased  the  right-hand 
Cloves,  he  then  sent  the  3000  left-hand  gloves  to  London.  They 
were  also  seized,  sold,  and  of  course  bought  by  him  for  a  price  next 
to  nothing.  Thus  he  became  possessed  of  them,  though  contraband, 
according  to  law,  and,  as  a  smuggler  would  say,  in  an  honest  way." 

"  I  prosecuted  a  ship  at  Bristol  to  condemnation  for  having  on 
board  smuggled  goods  to  a  great  amount.  George  Rous,  who  was  a 
good-natured,  friendly  man,  but  violent  in  court,  and  particularly  as 
counsel  for  smugglers,  raved  in  this  case  and  swore  that  I  had  con- 
trived to  have  these  goods  put  on  board,  in  order  to  condemn  the 
ship,  whilst  the  captain  had  gone  ashore  to  see  a  wife  whom  he  ten- 
derly loved  and  his  children  whom  he  was  extremely  fond  of,  at  the 
end  of  a  very  long  voyage  in  which  he  had  been  absent  from  them. 
This  was  all  coinage  :  but  it  was  put  a  stop  to  by  a  sailor  in  court 
starting  up  and  exclaiming,  '  Well,  that's  a  good  one ! — that's  a  good 
fetch ! — Why  my  mistress  and  her  children  were  aboard  ship  with  our 
captain  during  the  whole  of  the  voyage!" 

"  After  Serjeant  Hill  ceased  to  attend  the  courts  of  justice  as  a 
pleading  barrister,  he  answered  cases,  and  many  were  laid  before  him 
for  his  opinion.  His  habit  was  to  write  his  opinion  and  illustrate  it 
by  mentioning  all  the  cases  upon  which  it  was  founded,  with  a  great 
deal  of  reasoning  upon  each  case.  With  such  a  fund  of  information, 
others,  as  well  as  myself,  who  attended  in  oourts,  frequently  were 
enabled  to  argue  cases  most  ably  and  powerfully,  the  merit,  however, 
being  the  Serjeant's.  Upon  thus  being  consulted,  he  looked  for  what 
he  certainly  ought  to  have  had,  a  good  fee.  A  case  being  laid  before 
him  for  information,  with  a  fee  of  one  guinea,  the  opinion  he  wrote, 
which  I  saw,  was,  I  think,  in  these  words,  (keeping  the  guinea,)  '  I 
don't  answer  such  a  case  as  this  for  one  guinea.  Geo.  Hill,  Lin. 
Inn,' — adding  year  and  day.  The  serjeant  always  conversed  with 
me  very  freely.  I  met  him  upon  our  staircase  after  the  long  vacation, 
and  he  addressed  me  thus: — '  My  dear  friend,  you  will  be  shocked 
to  hear  what  a  loss  I  have  sustained  since  I  saw  you.'  I  expressed 
great  concern  that  any  thing  should  have  happened  which  he  had  so 
much  cause  to  lament.  Oh,  he  said,  he  had  never  had  so  much 
cause  of  grief,  or  suffered  such  a  calamity.  Before  I  could  express 
another  word,  he  said,  'I  have  lost  poor  dear  Mrs.  Hill.'  And,  then 
pausing  for  some  time,  during  which  I  felt  greatly  and  painfully  on 
his  account,  he  at  last  broke  silence,  saying,  '  I  don't  know,  though, 
that  the  loss  was  so  great ;  for  she  had  all  her  property,  Mr.  Attorney, 
to  her  separate  use.' }! 

"  Lord  Thurlow,  when  chancellor,  called  me  into  his  room  at  Lin- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  167 

coin's  Inn  Hall,  and,  among  other  things,  asked  me  if  I  did  not  think 
that  a  wooden  machine  might  be  invented  to  draw  bills  and  answers 
in  chancery.  I  told  him  that  I  should  be  glad  if  such  a  machine 
could  be  invented,  as  my  stationer's  copy  of  my  pleadings  generally 
cost  me  more  than  the  fees  paid  me  by  the  solicitors.  Many  years 
after  this,  and  when  he  had  ceased  to  be  chancellor,  and  I  was  attor- 
ney-general, a  bill  wras  filed  against  his  friend  Mr.  Macnamara,  the 
conveyancer,  and  Lord  Thurlow  advised  him  to  have  the  answer 
sent  to  me  to  be  perused  and  settled.  The  solicitor  brought  me  the 
answer.  I  read  it.  It  was  so  wretchedly  ill  composed  and  drawn, 
that  I  told  him  that  not  a  word  of  it  would  do : — that  I  had  not  time 
to  draw  an  answer  from  beginning  to  end : — that  he  must  get  some 
gentleman  to  draw  the  answer  from  beginning  to  end  who  understood 
pleading,  and  then  bring  it  to  me  to  peruse.  I  went  down  to  the 
House  of  Lords  the  same  day  to  plead  a  cause  at  the  bar  there. 
Lord  Thurlow  was  in  the  House  and  came  to  the  bar  to  me,  and 
said,  '  So  I  understand  you  think  my  friend  Mac's  answer  won't  do.' 
— 'Do!'  said  I:  'my  lord,  it  won't  do  at  all:  it  must  have  been 
drawn  by  that  wooden  machine  which  you  formerly  told  me  might 
be  invented  to  draw  bills  and  answers.' — '  That's  very  unlucky,'  says 
Thurlow,  '  and  impudent,  too,  if  you  had  known  the  fact,  that  I  drew 
the  answer  myself.' ' 

"  In  the  troublesome  times  of  sedition,  between  1793  and  1797, 
among  the  various  persons  who  were  brought  before  the  secretary  of 
state  or  the  privy  council  to  be  examined,  was  a  boy,  I  should  think 
about  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age,  who,  though  so  young,  had  his 
head  full  of  politics,  sedition,  reform  and  revolution,  and  was  very 
lavish  in  the  statement  of  all  his  opinions ;  and,  in  the  course  of  such 
statement,  laid  on  Mr.  Pitt  most  unsparingly, — who  was  present, 
though  the  boy  did  not  know  that  fact.  Mr.  Pitt  said  to  him,  *  Pray, 
my  boy,  did  you  ever  see  Mr.  Pitt?' — 'See  him!  see  him!'  said  the 
boy ;  '  no,  no,  I  would  not  have  these  eyes  sullied  by  looking  at  such 
a  fellow!'" 

"  When  Lord  Nelson  first  appeared  at  the  levee  at  St.  James's 
after  losing  his  arm,  his  majesty,  acknowledging  his  great  services, 
added,  'But  your  country  has  a  claim  for  a  bit  more  of  you." 

"Jemmy  Boswell  called  upon  me  at  my  chambers  in  Lincoln's 
Inn,  desiring  to  know  what  would  be  my  definition  of  Taste.  I  told 
him  I  must  decline  informing  him  how  I  should  define  it ; — because 
I  knew  he  would  publish  what  I  said  would  be  my  definition  of  it, 
and  I  did  not  choose  to  subject  my  notion  of  it  to  public  criticism. 
He  continued,  however,  his  importunities  in  frequent  calls,  and,  in 
one,  complained  much  that  I  would  not  give  him  my  definition  of 
taste,  as  he  had  that  morning  got  Henry  Dundas's  (afterwards  Lord 
Melville),  Sir  Archibald  Macdonald's,  and  John  Anstruther's  defini- 
tions of  taste. — '  Well,  then,'  I  said,  '  Boswell,  we  must  have  an  end 
of  this.  Taste,  according  to  my  definition,  is  the  judgment  which 
Dundas,  Macdonald,  Anstruther  and  you  manifested  when  you  deter- 
mined to  quit  Scotland,  and  to  come  into  the  south.  You  may  pub- 
lish this  if  you  please.' " 


168  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
1798—1799. 

Treasurership  of  Middle  Temple. — Measures  against  disaffection. — Prosecution  of 
O'Coigley  and  others. —  Punishments  for  political  offences. — Attorney-general's 
illness. — Prosecution  of  Gilbert  Wakefield. — Awkward  squad. — Treasonable  and 
Seditious  Practices  Bill. — Services  of  Sir  John  Scott  in  the  House  of  Commons;  his 
demeanour  toward  Mr.  Pitt. — Vacancy  in  the  chief  justiceship  of  the  Common 
Pleas. — Sir  J.  Scott's  emoluments  at  the  bar. — Anecdotes  of  lawyers. — Lord  North- 
ington. — T.  Cowper. — Lord  Mansfield. — Sir  Fletcher  Norton. — Serjt.  Davy. — Lord 
C.  B.  Macdonald  and  Baron  Graham. — Judge  Willes. — Mr.  Dunning. — Lord  Nor- 
bury,  &c.  &c. 

FROM  the  latter  part  of  Michaelmas  term,  1797,  to  the  corresponding 
period  in  1798,  Sir  John  Scott  served  the  office  of  treasurer,  that  is, 
principal  of  the  Society  of  the  Middle  Temple.  The  devolution  of 
this  annual  honour  is  determined  by  election,  which  usually  falls 
upon  each  master  of  the  bench  in  the  order  of  his  seniority  there. 
During  his  year,  the  treasurer  has  a  potential  voice  in  directing  the 
financial  and  other  affairs  of  the  society,  and  filling  up  any  vacancies 
that  may  happen  in  its  patronage. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1798,  the  attorney-general  introduced  the 
bill  for  preventing  the  publication  of  newspapers  "by  persons  not 
known."  After  two  discussions,  which  were  neither  very  interesting 
nor  very  keen,  it  passed  into  law,  as  the  statute  of  the  38th  Geo.  3, 
c.  78. 

A  message  from  the  crown  was  delivered,  on  the  20th  of  April,  to 
both  Houses  of  Parliament,  informing  them  of  the  preparations  which 
the  enemy  were  making  for  the  invasion  of  England,  and  recom- 
mending the  consideration  of  measures  for  defeating  the  machinations 
of  disaffected  persons  in  this  country.  Upon  these  grounds  another 
bill  was  passed  for  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  till  the  1st 
day  of  the  following  February. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  1798  that  a  prosecution  for  high  treason 
was  instituted  against  the  Rev.  James  O'Coigley,  Mr.  Arthur  O'Con- 
nor, John  Binns  and  others,  which  was  tried  at  Maidstone  on  the 
21st  and  22d  days  of  May.  Mr.  Gurney,  who  defended  Binns,  made 
it  one  of  his  topics  with  the  jury,  that  the  attorney-general  had  always 
failed  in  his  prosecutions  for  high  treason. 

"The  attorney-general,"  said  he,  "in  his  opening,  told  you,  with  a  seriousness  and 
soJemnjty  well  becoming  the  occasion,  that  he  should  make  out  such  a  case  against 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  that  he  thought  it  was  not  within  the  compass  of  possibility 
for  them  to  give  such  an  answer  to  it  as  to  entitle  them  to  a  verdict  of  acquittal. 
Gentlemen,  that  language  may  be  somewhat  new  to  you,  but  it  is  not  new  to  me.  I 
have  heard  the  same  kind  of  language  from  the  same"  learned  gentleman,  delivered  in 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  169 

the  same  solemn  manner,  more  than  once,  or  twice,  or  thrice,  or  even  four  times ; 
but  I  never  yet  knew  that  jury,  in  a  case  of  high  treason,  who,  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  cause,  coincided  with  him  in  judgment." 

In  point  of  fact  there  had  been  five  prior  prosecutions  for  high 
treason  by  Sir  John  Scott,  all  of  which  had  failed.  The  first,  second, 
and  third,  were  those  against  Hardy,  Tooke  and  Thelwall :  the  fourth 
was  against  William  Stone:  and  the  fifth  against  Robert  Thomas 
Crossfield.  However,  on  the  present,  which  was  the  sixth  occasion, 
one  of  the  prisoners,  O'Coigley,  was  convicted,  the  rest,  among  whom 
was  Mr.  Gurney's  client,  escaped. 

In  the  report  of  this  case,  27  Howell's  State  Trials,  120,  there 
occurs  another  example  of  Sir  John  Scott's  good  temper  and  forbear- 
ance. Mr.  Fergusson,  then  a  very  young  man,  who  was  counsel 
for  one  of  the  prisoners,  interrupted  the  attorney-general's  reply  with 
the  uncivil  expression,  "This  is  a  gross  misstatement  of  this  letter." 
The  attorney-general's  only  notice  of  this  impropriety  was,  "  I  excuse 
Mr.  Fergusson ;  because,  when  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  as  young 
as  he  is,  I  was  as  impatient." 

Soon  after  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  the  following  November, 
a  bill  was  introduced  for  still  further  continuing  the  suspension  of  the 
Habeas  Corpus  till  May  1799.  The  few  members  who,  at  that  time, 
constituted  the  actual  opposition,  (for  Mr.  Fox  and  his  immediate 
adherents  had  systematically  discontinued,  or  as  they  termed  it,  se- 
ceded from,  all  attendance  in  the  House  of  Commons,)  objected  to 
the  second  reading  of  this  bill,  and  complained  of  the  hardships  now 
inflicted  on  persons  imprisoned  for  political  offences. 

The  attorney-general,  in  supporting  the  measure,  acquainted  the  House,  that  in 
consequence  of  some  complaints  which  had  been  put  forth  on  another  occasion 
respecting  the  severity  of  the  punishments  inflicted  for  libel,  and  which  seriously 
reflected  on  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  he  had  been  led  to  trace  the  history  of  its 
proceedings  upon  this  subject;  and  it  would  be  found,  he  said,  from  a  comparison  of 
the  sentences  passed  by  that  court  during  the  last  six  years,  with  those  of  any  other 
period  since  the  Revolution,  that  the  present  judges,  without  neglecting  their  duty, 
had  considerably  softened  the  character  of  punishment  in  general,  and  particularly  of 
punishment  for  libel.  Formerly,  the  course  had  been  for  the  attorney-general  to 
prescribe  the  punishments  of  persons  brought  up  for  judgment;  but  he  himself  had 
followed  the  practice  of  a  distinguished  lawyer  whom  he  revered  and  loved;  he  meant 
Lord  Thurlow,  the  first  attorney-general  who  disused  the  immemorial  practice  of 
directing  the  sentence:  and  if  that  disuse  had  not  been  the  sole  cause  of  the  modern 
mitigation  in  the  punishment  of  libel,  much  lenity  had  undoubtedly  followed  upon  the 
change.  Sir  John  Scott  then  observed  upon  the  increased  efforts  which,  in  late  times, 
had  been  made  to  propagate  sedition  and  bring  into  contempt  the  religious,  political 
and  moral  institutions  of  the  country,  and  every  individual  who  held  a  conspicuous 
position  in  the  administration  of  the  law  or  of  the  government.  He  concluded  by 
adverting  to  the  particular  cases  in  which  severity  had  been  imputed,  and  showed  the 
exaggeration  and  even  falsehood  of  the  complaints,  and  the  malignity  and  pertinacious 
repetition  of  the  offences. 

The  discussion  on  the  Suspension  Bill  was  renewed  on  the  motion 
for  going  into  committee :  the  attorney-general  again  disproved  the 
imputed  oppression  and  cruelty :  and  after  a  speech  and  protest  in  the 
House  of  Lords  from  Lord  Holland,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  only 
active  opponent  of  the  measure  among  the  Peers,  it  was  passed  through 
the  legislature  in  the  beginning  of  the  new  year. 


170  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Mr.  Pensam  used  to  relate  an  incident,  which,  though  unimportant 
in  itself,  deserves  to  be  mentioned  as  illustrating  the  kindness  of  Sir 
John  Scott's  disposition.  He  was  summoned  as  attorney-general  to 
attend  a  council  held  in  1798  at  Weymouth,  where  George  the  Third 
was  passing  the  autumn.  The  then  clerk  of  the  council  was  Mr. 
Fawkener.  The  attorney-general  came  down  in  a  chaise  with  Mr. 
James  Holdship,  his  clerk :  who  was  not,  as  barrister's  clerk  often  is, 
a  mere  servant,  but  a  superior  and  confidential  person :  and  Mr. 
Fawkener  travelled  in  another  chaise  with  his  servant,  who  had  been 
a  soldier  under  his  command  in  the  guards.  Fawkener  proposed  to 
change  partners,  by  joining  Sir  John  Scott  in  one  chaise,  and  putting 
his  own  servant  with  Holdship  in  the  other.  The  attorney- general 
hesitated.  Fawkener  apologized  for  having  made  a  proposal  which 
he  feared  was  not  agreeable.  "  Why,  Fawkener,"  said  the  attorney- 
general,  "  I  will  tell  you.  There  is  not  a  gentleman  in  England  whose 
society  would  give  me  more  gratification  than  your's.  But  Holdship 
has  been  with  me  eight  and  twenty  years :  I  have  the  greatest  regard 
for  him :  he  knows  all  my  business  and  books,  and  I  can  hardly  tell 
how  I  should  go  on  if  any  thing  happened  to  him.  If  I  were  to  put 
him  in  a  chaise  with  a  servant,  he  might  think  it  a  slight :  and  that  I 
would  not  inflict  upon  him,  even  for  the  pleasure  of  travelling  with 
you."  Fawkener  again  apologized,  and  admitted  the  force  and  kind- 
ness of  the  reason  assigned.  However,  it  turned  out  at  last  that  Mr. 
Holdship,  on  hearing  of  the  proposal,  was  well  pleased  with  it:  per- 
haps as  not  disliking  to  travel  with  a  servant  who  might  pass  for  his 
own.  So  next  morning  the  two  chaises  started  according  to  the  sug- 
gested arrangement, — the  attorney- general  and  Mr.  Fawkener  tra- 
velling in  one,  and  Holdship,  with  Mr.  Fawkener's  servant,  in  the 
other. 

It  appears,  from  a  few  lines  of  Sir  John  Scott's  writing,  in  a  memo- 
randum book,  containing  some  items  of  his  property,  that  about  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1799  he  laboured  under  some  severe  indis- 
position. 

"9th  January  1799.  I  have  set  down  these  particulars.  This 
little  book  may  be  of  use  to  my  family,  before  another  year  com- 
mences. The  complaint  in  my  breast  it  may  please  God  to  make  the 
occasion  of  previously  removing  me.  His  holy  will  be  done!" 

This  year  was  a  fruitful  one  in  political  prosecutions.  The  most 
remarkable  of  them  was  the  charge  against  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Wake- 
field,  who  was  tried  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  on  the  21st  of 
February,  for  a  seditious  pamphlet  containing  a  farrago  of  monstrous 
calumnies  against  the  government  and  institutions  of  the  country. 
The  following  are  samples  of  this  libel : 

"The  established  conduct  of  these  ministers  constitutes  an  indubitable  proof  of 
their  ill  faith,"  &c.— "They  have  occasioned  a  devastation  of  the  human  species,  infi- 
nitely tremendous,  beyond  the  most  merciless  tyrants  of  ancient  or  modern  times : 
the  death  of  a  fellow-creature  is  no  more  to  them  than  the  fall  of  an  autumnal  leaf  in 
the  pathless  desert:  land  and  sea  are  covered  with  the  carcasses  of  their  slain  :  they 
have  engendered  sham  plots,  false  alarms  and  visionary  assassinations,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  deluding  the  unwary,  and  to  establish  their  own  power  by  a  military  despot- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  171 

ism,  in  due  time  over  England,  like  that  which  now  tramples  bleeding  Ireland  to 
the  earth,"  &c.  &c. — "  When  I  see  religion  employed  as  a  state  engine  of  despotism 
and  murder,  by  a  set  of  mea  who  are  worse  than  heathens  and  infidels  in  their 
lives, — when  I  observe  these  and  other  enormities,  which  the  time  would  fail  me  to 
enumerate,  committed  without  scruple  and  without  remorse,  to  maintain,  forsooth, 
a  degenerate  constitution  of  ideal  excellence  and  political  depravity,  I  revolt  at  such 
an  audacious  imposition,  and  pity  an  understanding  that  can  be  duped  by  such  despi- 
cable artifice." 

Mr.  Wakefield,  who  had  acquired  some  celebrity  as  a  classical 
scholar,  seemed  on  his  trial  to  be  under  the  dominion  of  a  political 
frenzy  which  nothing  could  check.  He  conducted  his  own  defence 
in  a  strain  of  unmeasured  abuse  against  the  attorney-general  and 
others,  interlarding  his  invective  with  classical  and  theological  allu- 
sions, very  much  more  copious  than  apposite. 

He  declared  that  "the  very  appointment  of  attorney-general  has  been  esteemed 
essentially  destructive  of  all  honour  and  integrity,  by  those  who  have  observed  the 
uniform  conduct  of  those  law-officers  in  succession." — "Be  my  notions  innocent," 
pursued  he  "or  be  they  dangerous,  they  are  but  the  visions  of  a  peaceful  and  retired 
scholar,  revealed  to  enlightened  and  speculative  men.  In  short  (which  is  my  real 
crime)  I  look  on  Mr.  Fox  as  the  angel  of  redemption,  and  on  Mr.  Pitt  as  the  demon 
of  destruction." 

"Aristotle,  in  his  book  on  politics,  makes  no  secret  of  a  predilection  for  republican 
government  in  competition  with  monarchical:  not  apprehensive  that  Alexander,  like 
the  unbookish  bigots  who  are  molesting  me,  would  take  offence  at  the  speculations 
of  his  preceptor:  nor  have  I  read  in  the  monuments  of  Attic  genius,  that  the  Mace- 
donian attorney-general  filed  an  information  of  scurrility  and  lies  against  the  philoso- 
pher of  Stagira." 

The  attorney-general's  reply  consisted  only  of  a  few  words.  Ac- 
knowledging the  right  of  every  man  to  canvass  the  conduct  of  minis- 
ters, he  could  not  admit  Mr.  Wakefteld's  title  to  h«4d  them  up  us 
murderers  and  robbers,  or  to  shower  abuse  upon  the  monarchy,  the 
nobility,  the  church  and  the  House  of  Commons. 

"If,  gentlemen,"  concluded  he,  "yon  see  the  question  in  the  light  in  which  I  see  it, 
as  I  believe  you  do,  I  should  think  that  I  degraded  myself  and  insulted  you  by  offer- 
ing to  make  any  reply  to  what  has  fallen  from  the  defendant:  and  if  you  do  not  see 
it  in  this  light,  you  must  say  that  Mr.  Gilbert  Wakefield  lives  in  this  country  under 
one  law,  and  all  the  rest  of  his  majesty's  subjects  under  another." 

Lord  Kenyon,  who  tried  the  case,  said,  in  summing  up, 

"I  shall  leave  to  him"  (the  defendant)  "in  the  moment  of  calm  reflection,  if  ever 
that  moment  arrive,  whether  any  thing  that  has  passed  has  been  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  call  for  that  torrent  of  abuse  with  which  he  has  overwhelmed  the  attorney- 
general." 

The  learned  judge  then  pronounced  a  vindication  and  high  eulogy 
of  Sir  John  Scott:  and,  byway,  perhaps,  of  counterpoise  to  the  reve- 
rend defendant's  show  of  learning,  concluded  thus: 


ingenuas  didicisse  fideliter  artes 


Emollit  mores," 

is  an  expression  which  has  often  been  used ;  but  the  experience  of  this  case  has 
shown  that  it  is  not  always  correct. 

The  defendant  was  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  two  years'  im- 
prisonment. 

Not  content  with  serving  the  crown  in  his  civil  capacity,  Sir  John 
Scott  had  thought  proper  to  evince  his  loyalty  in  a  military  character 


172  LIFE  OF  LORD 

also ;  but,  according  to  his  own  account,  the  sword  became  him  by  no 
means  so  well  as  the  gown.  He  records  his  deficiency  in  the  follow- 
ing passage  of  his  Anecdote  Book : 

"  During  the  long  war  I  became  one  of  the  Lincoln's  Inn  Volun- 
teers, Lord  Ellenborough  at  the  same  time  being  one  of  that  corps. 
It  happened,  unfortunately  for  the  military  character  of  both  of  us, 
that  we  were  turned  out  of  the  awkward  squadron  for  awkwardness. 
I  think  Ellenborough  was  more  awkward  than  I  was,  but  others 
thought  that  it  was  difficult  to  determine  which  of  us  was  the  worst." 
He  told  Mrs.  Forster  that  his  brother  William  did  better,  and  actually 
commanded  a  corps. 

A  report  from  a  committee  of  secrecy,  appointed  by  the  House  of 
Commons  to  inquire  into  the  proceedings  of  persons  and  societies 
engaged  in  treasonable  conspiracy,  was  presented  in  March  1799  by 
Mr.  Secretary  Dundas,  and  formed  the  basis  of  a  motion,  made  by 
Mr.  Pitt  on  the  19th  of  April,  for  leave  to  introduce  two  bills,  one  of 
which  was  to  be  a  temporary  act  for  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  till  March  1800,  and  the  other  a  permanent  one  for  the  more 
effectual  suppression  of  treasonable  and  seditious  societies  and  prac- 
tices. 

Mr.  Tierney  opposed  both  measures :  he  regarded  the  existing  laws  as  fully  ade- 
quate to  the  objects  professed:  and  he  argued  that  the  true  way  of  quieting  the  dis- 
contented would  be  to  concede  a  reform  in  Parliament. 

Sir  John  Scott  assured  him,  that  those  men,  however  they  might  dislike  the  princi- 
ples of  the  law  officers,  would  have  just  as  little  respect  for  any  of  Mr.  Tierney's  own 
theories  that  should  stop  short  of  universal  representation,  and  the  other  extreme 
points  of  their  political,  creed.  They  would  consider  the  honourable  gentleman  as 
doing  nothing,  unless  he  would  agree  to  the  annihilation  of  monarchy,  the  subversion 
of  aristocracy  and  the  confusion  of  property.  Unless  he  would  agree  to  a  scheme 
which  would  make  every  rich  man  poor,  and  no  poor  man  rich,  he  was  doing  nothing. 
It  was  true,  as  had  been  observed,  that  in  the  rebellions  of  1715  and  1745,  the  mere 
suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  had  been  found  sufficient.  But  in  those  times  the 
contention  was  which  of  two  rival  families  should  possess  the  throne  of  these  realms  : 
the  contention  in  the  present  day  was  to  put  the  throne  upon  a  wholly  new  founda- 
tion, and  reduce  the  other  branches  of  the  legislature  to  nothing.  He  possessed,  as 
attorney-general,  a  mass  of  papers,  which  he  should  be  ashamed  for  his  country  if 
he  were  obliged  to  exhibit  as  the  produce  of  its  press.  When  the  Constitutional 
Society  assumed  a  new  character,  and  incorporated  with  itself  (he  Corresponding 
Society,  whose  affiliated  branches  had  debauched  half  the  great  towns  in  the  kingdom, 
the  proceedings  of  these  bodies  had  been  such  as  had  warranted  indictments  for  trea- 
son. But  the  bodies  implicated  in  the  evidence  now  possessed  by  the  House,  were 
so  numerous  and  so  widely  spread,  that  proceedings  under  the  present  law,  which 
could  only  be  by  way  of  still  further  indictments  for  treason,  would  be  practically  out 
of  the  question.  The  better  course,  therefore,  was  to  dissolve  the  societies  by  a  new 
enactment,  and  thus  prevent  the  necessity  of  extreme  rigour.  The  second  of  the  two 
bills  would  effect  that  object,  at  the  same  time  that  it  would  leave  free  all  meetings 
for  constitutional  purposes.  Another  ground  for  the  proposed  legislation  was,  that 
the  existing  law  was  baffled  by  the  secrecy  of  the  illegal  meetings,  and  by  the  oath 
which  bound  the  members  to  withhold  all  evidence  against  each  other.  It  was  not 
denied  that  the  object  of  these  societies  was  to  extend  the  influence  of  French  princi- 
ples :  and  the  great  desideratum,  therefore,  was  the  total  dissolution  of  them. 

The  bill  for  the  suppression  of  treasonable  and  seditious  societies 
and  practices  became  a  permanent  law  as  the  39th  Geo.  3.  c.  79. 
The  bill  for  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  was  passed,  and 
further  renewed  in  subsequent  sessions. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  173 

It  appears  to  have  been  in  the  debate  of  the  31st  of  May,  1799, 
respecting  the  claims  of  Mr.  Palmer  upon  the  post-office,  that  Sir 
John  Scott  made  his  last  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He 
opposed  those  claims. 

The  next  month  completed  his  sixteenth  year  of  parliamentary  ser- 
vice. During  almost  eleven  sessions  of  that  period,  he  had  been  a 
law  officer  of  the  crown.  His  speaking  had  been  chiefly  upon  legal 
subjects:  but  from  the  quickness  with  which  he  gathered  information 
upon  business  of  every  description,  and  the  facility  with  which  he 
delivered  himself,  his  aid  had  been  sometimes  put  in  requisition  upon 
matters  not  belonging  to  his  immediate  province.  In  one  of  his 
latest  conversations,  he  told  Mr.  Farrer,  "  Mr.  Pitt  has  sent  for  me  on 
the  morning  of  a  day  on  which  a  debate  was  to  come  on,  and  said  to 
me,  '  attorney-general,  you  must  speak  on  such  a  one's  motion  to- 
night.' Upon  my  representing  that  I  was  utterly  ignorant  upon  the 
subject,  and  could  not  possibly  be  prepared  to  speak,  he  would  say, 
'  Sit  down,  and  I  will  soon  give  you  sufficient  information.'  Accord- 
ingly, in  half  an  hour,  he  would  give  me  almost  all  that  was  worth 
knowing,  in  a  clear,  concise  statement :  and  would  conclude  by  say- 
ing, '  There,  now,  you  are  quite  as  equal  to  debate  on  the  subject  as  I 
am.  You  must  follow  Mr.  So-and-so  in  the  debate." 

Mr.  Wilberforce  has  left  behind  him  a  gratifying  testimonial  to  the 
independence  of  character  evinced  by  Sir  John  Scott  during  his  pro- 
gress through  the  House  of  Commons. 

"Sir  John  Scott  used  to  be  a  great  deal  at  my  house.  I  saw  much  of  him  then, 
and  it  is  no  more  than  his  due  to  say,  that,  when  he  was  solicitor  and  attorney-gene- 
ral under  Pitt,  he  never  fawned  and  flattered  as  some  did,  but  always  assumed  the 
tone  and  station  of  a  man  who  was  conscious  that  he  must  show  he  respects  himself, 
if  he  wishes  to  be  respected  by  others." — Life  of  Wilberforce,  vol.  v.  p.  214. 

The  policy  pursued  by  him,  as  attorney-general,  in  the  prosecution 
of  libel  and  sedition,  has  been  censured  by  some  as  too  stern  and 
sweeping ;  but  the  circumstances  of  those  times  required,  and  there- 
fore justified,  a  strictness,  which,  in  a  calmer  season,  would  have 
been  blameable,  because  unnecessary.  It  is  more  easy  than  fair, 
when  the  danger  has  been  surmounted,  to  say  that  a  different  con- 
duct would  have  effected  the  same  deliverance. 

His  lady's  brother  had  been  married  in  the  preceding  March.  The 
passages  subjoined  refer  to  this  event: — 

Sir  John  Scott  to  the  Rev.  Matthew  Surtees.— (Extract.) 

"  Westminster  Hall,  Thursday,  (6th  June,  1799.) 
"  Dear  Mat 

"  I  have  at  present  an  interval  of  time  between  two  causes,  which  I  am  devoting 
to  the  purpose  of  expressing  the  warmest  and  most  affectionate  wishes  (for  myself 
and  on  behalf  of  your  sister),  that  Mrs.  S.  and  you  may  enjoy  all  the  '  fausta  et  felicia* 
of  life.  Nobody  more  sincerely  and  anxiously  feels  those  wishes  than  we  do.  Pray 
Jet  us  hear  from  you  occasionally,  and  I  hope  time  will  bring  us  acquainted  with  our 
sister,  of  whom  I  hear  what  I  like  to  hear,  from  those  whom  we  lawyers  should  speak 
of  as  witnesses  rather  more  disinterested  than  the  gentleman  to  whom  I  address 
myself  can  be.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  telling  you  lhat  we  are  all  very  well:  better 
than  all  of  us  have  been,  for  some  years,  at  the  same  time.  We  had  a  most  glorious 
exhibition  here  on  the  king's  birthday  in  the  review  of  the  volunteer  corps,  which 
furnished  much  the  most  magnificent  spectacle  I  have  ever  seen.  As  a  non-effective 


174  LIFE  OF  LORD 

in  an  awkward  squadron,  I  had  the  modesty  not  to  show  myself  in  arms,  though  I 
have  military  character  enough  to  attend  the  drill  occasionally  in  a  more  private 
scene.  Your  friend  Major  Sir  W.  Scott's  corps,  not  having  yet  been  bold  enough  to 
attempt  the  strong  measure  of  firing,  were  also  absent.  I  am  likely  to  remain  some 
time  longer  in  the  miseries  of  my  office,  unless  I  am  turned  out,  all  my  superiors 
being  in  deplorably  good  health.  We  have  very  good  news  from  the  Austrians  and 
Suwarrow,  in  an  extraordinary  Gazette  this  morning.  When  are  we  to  have  peace 
a^ain?  You  divines,  I  doubt,  can't  solve  all  the  difficulties  which  the  horrid  state  of 
events  permitted  through  the  world,  presents  to  a  thinking  mind.  Wiih  kindest 
regards  to  Mrs.  S.,  believe  me, 

"  Dear  Mat. 

"  Affectionately  yours, 

"J.  SCOTT." 

When  this  letter  was  written,  there  appeared  no  glimpse  of  promo- 
tion; but  in  the  very  next  month,  the  chief  justiceship  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  became  vacant.  Sir  James  Eyre,  by  whose  death  on  the 
8th  of  July  this  opening  was  made,  had  been  successively  recorder 
of  London,  a  puisne  baron  of  the  exchequer,  chief  baron  of  the 
same  court,  and  chief  justice  of  the  Common  Pleas.  "He  told  me," 
says  Lord  Eldon,  in  his  Anecdote  Book,  "  that  he  once  asked  Wilkes 
why  he  so  unmercifully  and  so  constantly  abused  him  in  all  his 
speeches  to  the  livery  of  London,  where  Eyre  was  recorder,  saying, 
at  the  same  time,  that  in  private  he  always  spoke  of  him  as  if  he  had 
a  regard  for  him.  '  So  I  have,'  said  Wilkes,  '  and  it  is  for  that  rea- 
son I  abuse  you  in  public :  I  wish  to  have  you  promoted  to  a  judge- 
ship.'" 

The  emoluments  of  Sir  John  Scott  at  the  bar  have  been  overrated. 
His  early  fee-books  are  not  extant ;  but  those  of  later  date  remain, 
from  the  beginning  of  1785  to  1799,  when  he  quitted  the  bar  for  the 
bench.  In  the  fee-book  of  1785,  his  total  receipts,  after  the  deduc- 
tion of  some  fees  returned,  are  set  down  at  5766  guineas.  He  ap- 
pears to  have  usually  gone  only  a  part  of  the  spring  circuit,  of  which 
this  is  the  entry  in  1785 : 

20  March  to  4  April,  circuit,  141  guineas,  148/.  Is.  The  summer 
circuit  is  less  accurately  noted,  thus, 

"  Circuit,  (say  about,  for  'tis  conjecture)  420/." 

In  the  account  of  1786,  the  sum  received  on  the  spring  circuit  from 
the  23d  of  March  to  the  12th  of  April  is  set  down  at  173  guineas,  be- 
side two  or  three  fees  not  then  paid,  of  which  the  amount  is  not  stated. 
The  sum  received  on  the  summer  circuit,  from  the  6th  of  August,  is 
entered  as  480  guineas:  and  the  total  receipt  of  the  year,  after  deduc- 
tion of  returned  fees,  is  summed  up  at  68331.  Is.:  which  7s.  should 
probably  be  8s.,  making  6508  guineas.  In  the  account  of  1787,  his 
absence  from  London  for  the  spring  circuit  is  noted  as  having  been 
from  the  24th  of  March  to  the  9th  of  April :  and  his  receipts  are  set 
down  at  145  guineas,  exclusive  of  something  not  then  paid.  The 
absence  for  the  summer  circuit  begins  on  the  27th  of  July :  and  the 
entry  of  fees  stands  thus : 

Newcastle  -  58  guineas,  60/.  18s. 
Carlisle  -  99  „  103/.  19s. 
Appleby  -  10  10/.  10s. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOJT.  175 

Lancaster     -   184  guineas,     193/.  4s. 

Durham 

Chancellor's  fee  1001. 

Fees 21/. 

The  total  for  the  year  1787  is  set  down,  after  deduction  of  fees 
returned,  at  16001.  7s.:  which  Is.  probably  ought  to  be  19s.,  making 
7239  guineas.  Such  variances  between  the  computations  by  pounds 
and  by  guineas  are  frequent  in  these  books,  owing  probably  to  mis- 
castings  of  the  shillings  in  so  great  a  number  of  pages  as  are  con- 
tained in  the  day-book  of  each  year.  In  1788,  his  absence  from 
London  for  the  spring  circuit  is  entered  as  from  the  16th  of  March  to 
the  5th  of  April:  and  his  receipts  as  179  guineas,  exclusive  of  his 
salary  and  fees  as  Chancellor  of  Durham,  which  were  100Z.  and  17/. 
The  summer  circuit  of  the  same  year,  from  the  17th  of  July,  is  noted 
thus : — 

Guineas.  £       s. 

Newcastle     -     57         59     7  (should  probably  be  17s.) 

Carlisle         -  109       114     9 

Appleby       -     30         31   10 

Lancaster     -  159       166  19 

Durham  -    130     0 

The  total  of  the  year,  after  deduction  of  returned  fees,  is  summed 
up  at  84 19/.  14s. 

This  summer  circuit  was  his  last:  for  in  the  June  immediately 
preceding  it,  he  had  been  made  solicitor-general,  after  which  the 
usage  of  the  profession  would  not  have  permitted  him  to  go  his  cir- 
cuit, except,  as  he  did,  for  a  single  time,  that  he  might  fulfil  his 
retainers.  For  several  years,  however,  he  continued,  in  the  summer 
and  sometimes  in  the  spring  also,  to  discharge  his  duties  and  receive 
his  fees  as  Chancellor  of  Durham.  The  total  receipt  of  the  year  1789 
(the  fees  of  solicitor-general  being  included)  is  summed  up  at  9559/. 
10s.,  clear  of  some  deductions  for  returned  fees.*  The  respective 
incomes  of  the  succeeding  years,  after  a  deduction  in  each  year  except 
1794,  for  fees  returned,  were  as  follows: — For  1790,  9684/.  15s.: 
for  1791,  10,213/.  13s.  6d.:  for  1792,  9080/.  9s.:  in  1793,  when  he 
had  become  attorney-general,  the  amount  was  10,330/.  Is.  4d.:  in 
1794,  it  was  11,592/.:  in  1795,  it  was  11,149/.  15s.  4d.:  in  1796, 
the  most  productive  year  of  all,  it  was  12,140^.  15s.  8d.:  in  1797,  it 
was  10,861/.  5s.  6d.:  and  in  1798,  the  last  entire  year  of  his  practice 
at  the  bar,  it  was  10,557/.  17s. 

The  following  professional  reminiscences  and  traditions  had  been 
stored  up  by  Sir  John  Scott,  during  the  long  practice  which  he  was 
now  to  quit:  and,  as  they  are  not  connected  with  his  personal  history, 
nor  assignable  to  any  particular  subjects  or  dates,  they  may,  perhaps, 
be  most  conveniently  inserted  here,  at  the  conclusion  of  that  period 
of  his  life  during  which  they  were  collected.  All  of  these,  except 

*  These  fignres  show  that  he  underrated  his  probable  receipts,  when,  shortly  after 
his  appointment  in  1788,  he  told  the  king  that  his  income  would  be  diminished  by  it. 
Chap.  IX. 


176  LIFE  OF  LORD 

the  two  at  the  end  of  the  present  chapter,  are  from  the  Anecdote 
Book:— 

"  When  Sir  Robert  Henley  was  keeper  of  the  great  seal,  and  pre- 
sided in  the  House  of  Lords  as  lord  keeper,  he  could  not  enter  into 
debate  as  a  chancellor  (being  a  peer)  does,  and,  therefore,  when  there 
was  an  appeal  from  his  judgments  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  the 
law  lords  then  in  the  House  moved  to  reverse  his  judgments,  which 
professional  tradition  represents  them  to  have  done  frequently,  when 
professional  opinions  of  lawyers,  not  members  of  the  House,  were 
confidently  stated  as  approving  those  judgments,  the  lord  keeper  could 
not  state  the  grounds  of  his  opinions  given  in  judgment,  and  support 
his  decisions.  He  was  frequently  much  out  of  temper  with  the  pro- 
ceedings in  which  his  opinions  were  reversed,  when  he  thought  it 
impossible  to  maintain  that  they  were  wrong.  In  the  famous  case  of 
Drury  and  Drury,  the  bar  of  the  time  when  his  judgment  was  given, 
and  all  subsequent  times,  held  his  judgment  to  be  perfectly  right,  and 
that  it  was  impossible  for  sound  lawyers  to  impeach  it.  The  law  lords, 
however,  prevailed  upon  the  House  to  reverse  it.  The  keeper  was 
very  angry:  and  tradition  tells  us,  that  in  going  up  St.  Martin's  Lane, 
in  his  way  home,  his  coach  stopped,  and  in  some  anger  he  said  to  the 
coachman,  '  Why  don't  you  drive  on  ? '  The  coachman  replied, '  My 
lord,  I  can't  yet — if  I  do  I  shall  kill  an  old  woman.'  'Drive  on,' 
said  the  keeper,  '  if  you  do  kill  her,  she  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  ap- 
peal to  the  House  of  Lords.'  After  he  became  chancellor  and  Lord 
Northington,  this  system  of  reversal  came  to  an  end.  The  lords  who 
so  reversed  his  judgments,  when  lord  keeper,  were  Lord  Hardwicke 
and  Lord  Mansfield,  I  think." 

"  I  have  been  assured  that  when  Lord  Northington  quitted  the 
chancellorship,  and  was  placed  in  another  office,  I  think  that  of  lord 
president,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  of  that  day  congratulated 
him  upon  his  removal  from  his  office  of  eternal  and  unceasing  labour 
and  fatigue  to  a  situation  of  so  much  ease  and  quiet.  There  was  a 
great  difference  between  the  emoluments  of  the  two  offices.  The  party 
congratulated  was  much  out  of  humour  upon  receiving  these  congratu- 
lations. Answering  the  archbishop,  he  said  very  sulkily,  '  I  suppose, 
now,  you  would  think  I  was  extremely  civil  and  kind,  if  I  was  to 
congratulate  your  grace  upon  a  translation  from  Canterbury  to  Llan- 
daff! ' » 

"  Tom  Cowper,  barrister  and  king's  counsel,  argued  a  case  in  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench,  upon  the  right  of  the  parson  of  a  parish  to 
tithes  in  kind  in  the  parish  of  Rebus,  in  Hampshire.  The  court  was 
against  him,  and  he  then  said,  *  I  see  your  lordships  are  of  opinion 
that  '  Est  modus  in  Rebus*,'  and  therefore  I  shall  give  your  lordships 
no  further  trouble.'  Lord  Mansfield,  who  did  not  like  trouble,  and 
did  like  a  joke,  though  it  was  a  mere  pun,  much  approved  this." 

"  Taylor,  the  oculist,  dining  with  the  barristers  upon  the  Oxford 
circuit,  having  related  many  wonderful  things  which  he  represented 

•  Horat.  Sat.  Lib.  I.  Sat.  1.  line  106. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  177 

himself  to  have  performed,  was  asked  by  Bearcroft,  a  little  out  of 
humour  with  his  self-conceit,  '  Pray,  chevalier,  as  you  have  told  us 
of  a  great  many  things  which  you  have  done  and  can  do,  will  you  be 
so  good  as  to  try  to  tell  us  any  thing  which  you  cannot  do?'  'No- 
thing so  easy,'  replied  Taylor:  '  I  cannot  pay  my  share  of  the  dinner 
bill,  and  that,  sir,  I  must  beg  of  you  to  do.' ' 

"A  Jew,  coming  to  bail  a  person  in  the  King's  Bench,  was  superbly 
dressed,  in  order  that  he  might  pass  the  better  as  sufficient  in  sub- 
stance. He  had  on,  particularly,  a  most  rich  gold  embroidered  waist- 
coat. The  plaintiff's  counsel  was  pressing  him  about  his  property, 
when  old  Lord  Mansfield,  who  sometimes  sacrificed  a  little  to  his  love 
of  a  joke,  said,  '  Don't  waste  your  time  by  objecting  to  a  gentleman 
with  such  a  waistcoat:  he  would  burn  for  more  than  the  debt.' " 

"  When  Macklin,  the  actor,  was  very  old,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
drive  him  from  the  stage  by  certain  persons  whom  he  afterwards 
prosecuted  for  the  conspiracy.  He  succeeded,  or  would  have  suc- 
ceeded, in  his  prosecution ;  but,  standing  upon  the  floor  in  the  King's 
Bench,  he  said  he  had  no  resentment  against  those  who  had  so  ill- 
treated  him  ;  he  wished  only  for  an  apology.  That  was  made :  upon 
which  Lord  Mansfield  said,  Mr.  Macklin,  '  You  have  acted  well  all 
your  life  ;  but  you  have  acted  to-day  more  to  your  honour  and  credit 
than  you  ever  acted  before.' ' 

"  Upon  the  trial  of  a  horse-cause  before  Lord  Mansfield,  a  witness 
was  examined,  who  stated  that  the  horse  was  returned  to  his  master, 
after  the  gentleman,  who  had  bought  it,  had  kept  it  nearly  three 
months.  'What!'  said  Lord  Mansfield,  'was  your  master  willing, 
at  the  end  of  three  months,  to  take  it  back  again  ?  How  could  he  be 
such  a  fool?  WTho  advised  him  to  do  that?' — 'My  lord,'  said  the 
witness,  *  I  advised  him  to  take  the  horse  again.' — '  How  could  you 
be  such  a  fool? '  said  the  chief  justice.  '  What  was  your  reason  for 
giving  that  advice  ? ' — '  Please  you,  my  lord,'  said  the  witness,  '  I 
told  my  master,  what  all  the  world  knows,  that  your  lordship  was 
always  against  a  horse-dealer,  right  or  wrong,  and  therefore  he  had 
better  take  it  back.'" 

"  When  the  Dog  Act  had  passed,  which  was  brought  into  the  House 

by  Sir  Thomas  C ,  and  by  the  enactments  of  which,  the  person 

convicted  before  a  justice  of  peace  of  stealing  a  dog,  was  to  be  forth- 
with whipped,  but,  nevertheless,  was  to  have  the  benefit  of  an  appeal 
to  the  quarter  sessions  which  should  be  held  next  after,  the  judge  who 
was  upon  the  northern  circuit  (I  think  Baron  Perrott  was  the  judge), 
in  giving  his  charge  to  the  grand  jury  at  Durham,  stated  that  it  was 
his  habit  to  give  the  grand  jury  the  most  useful  information  he  could 
respecting  the  cases  in  the  calendar,  and  to  explain  the  several  acts 
which  had  passed  in  the  preceding  session  of  Parliament  relative  to 
offences.  He  then  went  through  several,  with  observations,  and 
concluded  by  adverting  to  the  Dog  Act.  This,  he  said,  he  and  his 
eleven  brethren  the  judges,  had  endeavoured  to  understand,  but  they 
were  unable  to  comprehend  it — a  thing  he  should  have  much  lamented, 
if  he  did  not  perceive  that  the  gentleman  who  brought  the  bill  into 

VOL.  I. — 12 


178  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Parliament  was  their  foreman,  and  who  could,  of  course,  inform  them 
what  was  the  value  of  an  appeal  against  being  whipped,  after  the 
whipping  had  been  inflicted." 

"  Many  absurdities  have  been  noticed  in  Irish  acts  of  Parliament ; 
perhaps  none  greater  than  what,  I  think,  may  be  found  in  an  English  act 
of  Parliament.  There  was  an  act  for  rebuilding  Chelmsford  gaol.  By 
one  section,  the  new  gaol  was  to  be  built  from  the  materials  of  the  old 
gaol ;  by  another,  the  prisoners  were  to  be  kept  in  the  old  gaol  till  the 
new  gaol  wras  finished." 

"  Serjeant  Sayerwent  the  circuit  for  some  judge  who  was  indisposed 
in  health.  He  was  afterwards  imprudent  enough  to  move,  as  counsel, 
to  have  a  new  trial  of  a  cause  heard  before  himself,  for  a  misdirection 
by  the  judge.  Lord  Mansfield  said,  '  Brother  Sayer,  there  is  an  act 
of  Parliament  which,  in  such  a  matter  as  was  before  you,  gave  you 
discretion  to  act  as  you  thought  right.'  '  No,  my  lord,'  said  the  ser- 
jeant, '  I  had  no  discretion.'  '  You  may  be  right,  brother,'  said  Lord 
Mansfield,  '  for  I  am  afraid  even  an  act  of  Parliament  could  not  give 
you  discretion.' ' 

"  Sir  Fletcher  Norton,  at  Durham,  examined  a  sailor  as  a  witness, 
who  vexed  Sir  Fletcher  by  the  manner  and  matter  of  his  answers. 
'  Oh,'  says  Sir  Fletcher,  '  you  affect  to  be  a  very  clever  fellow,  quite 
a  wit.'  '  To  be  sure  I  do,'  says  the  sailor;  '  I  am  a  well-educated 
one.'  '  You  well  educated!  why,  where  ?'  said  Sir  Fletcher;  '  where 
were  you  educated  ?'  'At  the  university,'  said  the  sailor.  '  University !' 
replied  Sir  Fletcher;  'at  what  university  could  you  be  educated?' 
'  Why,'  said  the  sailor,  '  at  the  university  from  which  you  were  ex- 
pelled for  your  impudence — Billingsgate.'  " 

"  Sir  Fletcher  had  the  reputation  of  not  adhering  strictly  to  truth. 
It  was  imputed  to  him  that  he  said,  '  My  dear  lady  is  the  most  unfor- 
tunate player  at  cards  that  ever  was  known.  She  has  played  at  wrhist 
for  twenty  years,  and  never  had  a  trump.'  '  Nay,'  said  somebody, 
1  how  can  that  be  ?  she  must  have  had  a  trump  when  she  dealt.  '  Oh, 
as  to  that,'  said  he,  '  she  lost  every  deal  during  the  whole  twrenty 
years.'  " 

"Serjeant  Davy  learnt  what  he  knew,  I  always  understood,  in  the 
King's  Bench  prison.  He  was  a  tradesman  (a  grocer,  I  think)  in 
Exeter,  where  he  became  a  bankrupt.  By  force  of  a  strong  natural 
understanding,  he  became  eminent  at  Nisi  Prius,  which  such  a  man 
may  be  without  knowing  much  law.  On  one  occasion,  when  upon 
the  western  circuit,  he  had  grossly  abused  a  gentleman  in  his  speech 
in  a  cause.  The  gentleman,  greatly  offended,  sought  an  opportunity, 
at  Winchester,  where  the  offence  was  given,  and  afterwards  at  Salis- 
bury, to  challenge  him;  but  the  serjeant  evaded  all  his  attempts. 
The  other  followed  him  to  Dorchester,  and  knocking  at  a  very  early 
hour  at  the  door  of  the  house  where  the  lawyer  lodged,  upon  it  being 
opened,  he  walked  into  the  house,  and  walked  from  room  to  room  till 
he  found  himself  in  the  room  where  the  lawyer  was  in  bed.  He  drew 
open  the  curtains,  and  said  that  the  lawyer  must  well  know  what  his 
errand  was :  that  he  came  to  demand  satisfaction  :  that  he  too  well 
knew  that  the  person  upon  whom  that  demand  was  made  was  unwill- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  179 

ing  to  comply  with  it;  but  that  satisfaction  he  must  have  and  would 
The  serjeant  began  to  apologize.  The  gentleman  said  he  was 
)  be  appeased  by  apologies  or  words  :  his  honour  had  been  tar- 
nished, and  the  satisfaction  which  a  gentleman  owed  to  a  gentleman 
7™  he  had  calumniated,  he  came  to  demand  and  to  insist  upon. 

WelJ,  said  the  serjeant,  'surely  you  don't  mean  to  fall  upon  a  naked 
unarmed  man  in  bed  ?'  <  Oh  no,  sir,'  said  the  gentleman ;  '  you  can't 
but  know  in  what  way  this  sort  of  business  is  conducted  between 
gentleman  and  gentleman.'  '  Very  right,  then,'  says  the  serjeant.  '  If 
you  give  me  your  honour  that  you  don't  mean  to  fall  upon  me  naked 
and  unarmed  m  bed,  I  give  you  mine  that  I  will  not  get  out  of  bed 

11  you  are  gone  out  of  town,  and  I  am  in  no  danger  of  seeing  vou 
again.'  '  &  J 

"  Serjeant  Davy  had  a  very  large  brief,  with  a  fee  of  two  guineas 
only  on  the  back  of  it.  His  client  asked  him  if  he  had  read  his  brief 
He  pointed  with  his  finger  to  the  fee,  and  said,  'As  far  as  that  I  have 
read,  and  for  the  life  of  me  I  can  read  no  farther.'  " 

_"At  the  Old  Bailey,  after  a  case  had  been  gone  through  against  a 
prisoner,  and  was  strongly  made  out  against  him,  Judge  Gould  asked 
who  was  concerned  for  the  prisoner.  Davy  said,  '  My  lord,  I  am  con- 
cerned for  him,— and  very  much  concerned,  after  what'l  have  heard.'  " 
Serjeant  Davy  being  told  in  Westminster  Hall,  by  a  solicitor 
who  lived  at  Henley-upon-Thames,  that  he  had  quitted  business^ 
beckoned  to  his  brother  Serjeant  N.,  who  was  an  Oxford  circuiteer' 
and,  on  his  coming  up  to  them,  said  to  him,  '  Brother,  you  are  very 
uncivil  not  to  notice  this  gentleman,  an  eminent  solicitor  upon  your 
own  circuit.'  N.,  who,  as  it  is  said,  was  all  civility  to  such  persons, 
made  a  thousand  apologies  for  his  apparent  neglect,  and  en^ao-ed  the 
solicitor  to  dine  with  him  on  the  following  day.  The  solicitor  then 
leaving  the  two  Serjeants,  Davy  said,  '  Brother  N.,  this  is  a  bite.  The 
man  has  just  told  me  he  has  entirely  quitted  business;  so  your  dinner 
goes  for  nothing.' ' 

"  Serjeant  Davy  agreed  with  Serjeant  Whittaker  to  purchase  two 
pipes  of  .Madeira,  which  were  to  go  to  the  East  Indies  and  be  paid  for 
upon  their  arrival  in  the  Thames.     Davy,  hearing  that  the  wine  was 
remarkably  fine,  and  knowing  that  his  brother  did  not  like  payincr  his 
money  for  nothing,  whilst  they  were  talking  together  in  Westminster 
Hall,  took  occasion  to  say,  '  Brother  Whittaker,  how  unfortunate  we 
have  been  in  not  insuring  those  two  pipes  of  Madeira !     The  vessel  on 
board  of  which  they  were,  is  lost,  and  our  Madeira  is  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sea,  and  now  you  and  I  have  to  pay  our  money  for  nothino- ' 
'Our  Madeira!'  said  Whittaker,  'I  don't  know  what  you  mean.     I 
have  nothing  to  do  with  any  Madeira.'     'What,'  said  Davy,  'you 
surely  don't  mean  to  deny  that  we  were  to  be  joint  purchasers  of  two 
pipes,  which,  for  improvement,  were  to  go  to  the  East  Indies  and 
back,  and  now  to  get  off  paying  your  half  of  what  we  jointly  pur- 
Whittaker  positively  denied  that  he  had  ever  entered  into 
any  such  joint  engagement.     '  Well,  then,'  said  Davy,  '  I  am  glad  of 
ft  is  the  finest  Madeira  that  ever  came  into  the  Thames.     The 
ship  and  the  wine  are  safe,  and  the  wine  is  all  my  own.'  " 


180  LIFE  °F  LORD 

"  At  the  head  of  a  court  in  Westminster  Hall  (the  Exchequer,)  sat 
one  very  worthy  and  excellent  person  (Lord  Chief  Baron  Macdonald,) 
who  never  ceased  taking  snuff:  the  junior  judge  (Mr.  Baron  Graham,) 
who  was  also  a  very  worthy  and  excellent  person,  when  he  first  came 
upon  the  bench,  was  too  much  addicted  to  talking.  His  majesty, 
George  III.  said,  '  That  court  has  a  snuff-box  at  one  end,  and  a 
chatter-box  at  the  other.'  " 

"Mr.  Justice  Willes,  the  son  of  Chief  Justice  Willes,  had  many 
good  qualities,  but  he  was  much  too  volatile,  and  inattentive  to  rea- 
sonably grave  behaviour  upon  the  bench.  He  was,  however,  very 
anxious  to  do  right.  He  condemned  a  boy,  I  think,  at  Lancaster,  and 
with  the  hope  of  reforming  him  by  frightening  him,  he  ordered  him 
for  execution  next  morning.  The  judge  awoke  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  and  was  so  affected  by  the  notion  that  he  might  himself  die  in  the 
course  of  the  night,  and  the  boy  be  hanged,  though  he  did  not  mean 
that  he  should  suffer,  that  he  got  out  of  his  bed,  and  went  to  the  lodg- 
ings of  the  high  sheriff,  and  left  a  reprieve  for  the  boy ;  and  then, 
returning  to  his  bed,  spent  the  rest  of  the  night  comfortably." 

"  Mr.  Dunning,  when  at  the  bar,  being  in  very  great  business,  was 
asked  how  he  contrived  to  get  through  it  all.  He  said, '  I  do  one- 
third  of  it — another  third  does  itself — and  the  remaining  third  con- 
tinues undone.' " 

"An  attorney  in  Dublin  having  died  exceedingly  poor,  a  shilling 
subscription  was  set  on  foot  to  pay  the  expenses  of  his  funeral.  Most 
of  the  attorneys  and  barristers  having  subscribed,  one  of  them  applied 
to  Toler,  afterwards  Lord  Chief  Justice  Norbury,  expressing  his  hope 
that  he  would  also  subscribe  his  shilling.  '  Only  a  shilling,'  said 
Toler,  '  only  a  shilling  to  bury  an  attorney  ?  Here  is  a  guinea :  go  and 
bury  one-and-twenty  of  them.'  " 

Lord  Eldon  used  to  tell  a  story  of  a  Mr.  Bicknell,  a  master  in  chan- 
cery, which  seems  to  have  been  the  original  of  Peter  Pindar's  well- 
known  tale.  Mr.  Bicknell,  in  passing  through  Sheffield,  bought  some 
razors  at  a  very  low  price ;  but  finding  them  worthless,  called,  in  his 
way  back,  upon  the  man  of  whom  he  had  bought  them,  and  repre- 
sented the  impossibility  of  shaving  with  them.  '  Shave,'  replied  the 
man,  'did  you  want  them  to  shave  with?'  'Why,  for  what  other 
purpose  could  I  want  them?'  was  the  answer.  'Why,  sir,  I  thought 
you  wanted  them  to  sell  them  again.'  '  Well,'  said  Mr.  Bicknell, 
'  but  the  person  who  might  buy  them  of  me,  if  I  had  meant  to  sell 
them,  would  have  wished  to  shave  with  them.'  '  True,  sir,'  answered 
the  vendor,  'but  what's  that  to  you  or  me ?'  " 

Lord  Eldon  told  his  grandson,  the  present  earl,  that  Lord  Thurlow, 
upon  the  point  of  giving  a  clergyman  a  living,  stated  to  him  that  he 
must  desire  he  would  continue  the  same  curate  who  had  been  there 
in  the  time  of  his  predecessor,  and  whom  he  believed  to  be  a  deserv- 
ing man.  The  clergyman  represented  that  his  intended  arrangements 
were  such  that  he  could  not  do  so.  "Very  well,"  replied  Lord 
Thurlow,  "if  you  will  not  take  him  for  your  curate,  /will  make  him 
the  rector"  And  he  did  so. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  181 


CHAPTER  XV. 
1799—1801. 

Sir  J.  Scott  appointed  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Common  Pleas:  title  of  Eldon:  degree  of 
serjeant:  patent  of  peerage:  letters  to  his  family. — Lines  on  his  advancement. — Ar- 
morial bearings. — Parallel  progress  of  Sir  William  Scott. — The  king's  pleasure 
respecting  Lord  Eldon's  wig. — Death  of  Henry  Scott. — Lord  Eldon's  first  speeches 
in  the  House  of  Lords:  Habeas  Corpus:  prevention  of  adultery. — Merits  of  Lord 
Eldon  as  a  common  law  judge. — Death  of  Judge  Buller:  use  and  province  of  equity 
jurisdiction. — Death  of  Lord  Eldon's  mother. — His  letter  on  the  proposal  of  a  county 
representation  for  his  eldest  son. — Stories  of  Mr.  Jekyll  and  the  Western  circuit. — 
Remarkable  trials. — Letter  of  Sir  John  Mitford  to  Lord  Kenyon  on  state  prosecutions. 
— Lord  Eldon's  speech  on  right  of  search:  Resignation  of  Mr.  Pitt:  Catholic  question. 

LORD  ELDON  has  left,  in  his  Anecdote  Book,  his  own  account  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  he  obtained  the  chief  justiceship,  vacated 
by  the  death  of  Sir  James  Eyre. 

"  After  I  had  served  the  offices  of  solicitor-general  and  attorney- 
general  from  1788  to  1799,  the  chief  justiceship  to  the  Common  Pleas 
becoming  vacant,  and  feeling  myself  worn  down  with  labour  and 
fatigue,  I  made  a  point  of  succeeding  to  that  office.  My  pretensions 
were  very  much  opposed  by  the  chancellor  Lord  Loughborough,  and 
by  Mr.  Pitt,  then  minister.  Both  wished  to  give  the  office  to  Sir  R.  P. 
Arden,  then  master  of  the  rolls.  They  represented  to  me  that  it  was, 
on  my  part,  bad  judgment  to  change  my  situation, — as  it  certainly 
was  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view, — but  I  thought  my  health  and  com- 
fort required  my  retirement  from  the  laborious  office  of  attorney-gene- 
ral. Mr.  Pitt  was  pleased  also  to  express,  repeatedly,  regret  that  I 
should  quit  the  House  of  Commons.  The  difficulties  were  at  length 
overcome,  Mr.  Pitt  agreeing,  if  with  the  chief  justiceship  I  would,  as 
Lord  Camden  did,  go  into  the  House  of  Lords  as  a  peer;  and  the  king 
consented,  provided  that  I  would  promise  not  to  refuse  the  great  seal 
when  he  might  call  upon  me  to  accept  it.  This  condition,  prescribed 
by  his  majesty,  I  thought  I  could  not  refuse  to  accede  to." 

When  it  became  known  that  the  chief  justiceship  of  the  Common 
Pleas  was  to  be  filled  by  Sir  John  Scott,  Lord  Kenyon,  who  was  then 
Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England,  took  an  opportunity,  from  the  bench, 
of  expressing  his  congratulations  to  the  profession,  particularly  to  those 
who  practised  in  the  Common  Pleas,  on  the  appointment  of  one  who, 
he  said,  would  probably  be  found  "the  most  consummate  judge  that 
ever  sat  in  judgment." 

Some  question  now  arose  about  the  choice  of  a  title  for  the  proposed 
peerage. 


182  LIFE  OF  LORD 

(Sir  John  Scott  to  Sir  William  Scott.)— (Extract.) 

No  date ;  but  written  July,  1799. 

"There  seems  to  be,  as  suggested  by  Mitforcl,  a  difficulty  about  Allondale.  The 
whole  dale  belonging  to  Mr.  Beaumont,  and  I  having  no  connection  with  it,  it's 
thought  it  may  give  offence  to  trespass  upon  it.  If  the  chancellor  thinks  so  and  you, 
I  must  resort  to  something  else;  there's  hardly  any  that  don't  open  to  some  such 
objection,  and  I  may  be  driven  to  Eldon  at  last. 

" '  Sit  sine  labe  decus'  is  the  best  motto  by  far  that  I  have  heard  of,  and  John  told 
me  he  had  it  from  you. 

"  As  the  ring  is  to  be  a  compliment  to  the  king,  I  have  thought  of  Virgil's  descrip- 
tion of  the  hive  when  the  king  is  secure,  as  applicable  to  the  unanimity  of  the  country 
in  the  present  security  of  its  monarchy. 

Eege  incolumi,  mens  omnibus  una. 

"Pray,  my  dear  brother,  send  me  a  line  when  you  receive  this.  I  am  going  to 
spend  my  last  day  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  then  I  am  to  dine  with  the  chan- 
cellor, so  that  I  fear  I  cannot  get  to  the  Commons;  and,  the  moment  I  come  out  of 
court,  I  could  only  come  under  strong  emotions  of  spirits.  I  can  find  nobody  that 
can  think  that  Scott  will  do,  except  Lord  R.,  and  I  won't  have  it  unless  you  bid  me; 
and  I  understand  myself  to  have  been  in  possession  of  your  ideas  before. 

"God  bless  you ; 

"  Yours, 

"  J.  SCOTT." 

Those  members  of  the  bar  who  are  selected  for  judicial  office  in 
any  of  the  three  superior  courts  of  common  law,  if  not  already  ser- 
jeants,  are  always,  by  ancient  custom,  admitted  to  that  degree  before 
they  take  their  seats  on  the  bench,  and  are  therefore  styled  judges  of 
the  degree  of  the  coif.  This  rank,  at  the  period  when  Sir  John  Scott 
was  about  to  receive  his  promotion,  could  be  taken  only  in  term 
time ;  and,  therefore,  the  long  vacation  having  begun,  Parliament  was 
pleased,  before  the  sealing  of  his  patent,  to  pass  an  act,  39  Geo.  3.  c. 
113,  whereby  such  persons  as  the  crown  might  thenceforward  appoint 
to  be  judges  were  enabled  to  take  upon  themselves  the  degree  of  ser- 
jeant  in  vacation.  The  king's  writ,  commanding  Sir  John  Scott  to 
take  upon  him  this  degree,  bears  date  the  16th  of  July,  1799,  on 
which  day  he  took  the  oaths  of  serjeant.  The  rings  which,  according 
to  the  usage,  he  gave  to  the  Serjeants  and  others  upon  his  entering 
into  their  brotherhood,  bore  the  motto  from  Virgil,  upon  which  he 
had  consulted  his  brother  in  the  foregoing  letter. 

On  the  17th  of  July,  he  was  sworn  of  the  privy  council.  His 
patent  of  peerage  is  dated  on  the  18th,  by  which  King  George  III. 
creates  "our  trusty  and  well-beloved  Sir  John  Scott,  knight,"  a  peer, 
as  "Baron  Eldon  of  Eldon,  in  our  county  palatine  of  Durham,"  and 
grants  that  "name,  state,  degree,  style,  dignity,  title  and  honour,"— 
"  unto  him  the  said  Sir  John  Scott,  and  the  heirs  male  of  his  body 
lawfully  begotten  and  to  be  begotten."  And  by  patent,  dated  the 
19th,  his  majesty  appoints  "our  right  trusty  and  well-beloved  coun- 
cillor, John  Lord  Eldon,"  — "  our  chief  justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  his  Mother.) 

'•Lincoln's  Inn,  19lh  July.  1799. 
"  My  dear  Mother, 

"  I  cannot  act  under  any  other  feeling  than  that  you  should  be  the  first  to  whom  I 
write  after  changing  my  name.  My  brother  Harry  will  have  informed  you,  I  hope, 

*  4  Georg.  212. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  183 

that  the  king  has  been  pleased  to  make  me  chief  justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  and  a 
peer.  I  feel  that,  under  the  blessing  of  Providence,  I  owe  this,  —  I  hope  I  may  say  I 
owe  this,  —  to  a  life  spent  in  conformity  to  those  principles  of  virtue,  which  the  kind- 
ness of  my  father  and  mother  early  inculcated,  and  which  the  affectionate  attention  of 
my  brother,  Sir  William,  improved  in  me.  I  hope  God's  grace  will  enable  me  to  do 
my  duty  in  the  station  to  which  I  am  called.  I  write  in  some  agitation  of  spirits,  but 
I  am  anxious  to  express  my  love  and  duty  to  my  mother,  and  affection  to  my  sisters, 
when  I  first  subscribe  myself, 

"Your  loving  and  affectionate  son, 


(  Lord  Eldon  to  his  brother  Henry.') 
*  My  dear  Harry, 

"I  would  write  you  a  longer  letter,  but  I  am  really  so  oppressed  with  the  attention 
and  kindness  of  my  friends,  that  I  can't  preserve  a  dry  eye.  God  bless  you  and  my 
sister;  remember  me  affectionately  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Forster.  You  shall  hear  from 
me  again.  With  the  same  heartfelt  affection  with  which  I  have  so  often  subscribed 
the  name  of  J.  SCOTT,  I  write  that  of  your  affectionate  brother, 

"  ELDOX. 
"Lincoln's  Inn,  20ih  July,  1799." 

(Lord  Eldon  la  the  Rev.  Matthew  Surtees.") 

"  July  22d,  1799. 
"  My  dear  Mat., 

"I  am  unable  to  express  the  feelings  which  your  kind  letter  occasioned.  In  truth, 
such  expressions  of  regard  and  good  opinion,  as  upon  this  occasion  I  have  received, 
whilst  they  administer  a  consolation  which  is  invaluable  with  reference  to  what  is 
past,  I  am  afraid,  at  the  same  time,  must  oppress  me  with  the  apprehension  that  a 
greater  demand  is  made  upon  me  with  respect  to  the  future  than  I  shall  ever  be  able 
to  satisfy.  But  experience  has  proved,  in  my  own  case,  that  so  much  indulgence  is 
given  to  men  acting  with  upright  intentions,  that  I  occasionally  indulge  a  hope  that 
I  may  be  able  to  execute  satisfactorily  the  important  duties  of  that  great  and  import- 
ant station  which  an  English  judge  holds.  I  have  quitted  a  station  of  great  anxiety 
(such  as  I  hope  is  unlikely  to  attend  the  office  of  attorney-general  in  after  times)  and 
of  great  emolument,  for  a  situation  of  dignity  and  ease,  and  of  infinitely  less  pecuniary 
advantage.  I  am  sorry  to  add  that  I  am  not  aware  that  it  furnishes  me  with  any  new 
powers  of  attending  to  the  advantage  of  others  effectually.  I  have  some  reason  to 
believe  that  it  may  not  eventually  render  more  uncertain  than  it  was,  the  prospect 
of  attaining  the  highest  situation  in  the  law.  If  the  king's  pleasure  should  ever  call 
me  out  of  the  quiet  and  retirement  in  which  it  has  now  placed  me,  may  I  hope  you 
will  give  me  credit  when  I  assure  you,  that  as  strong  a  motive  for  change  as  I  can 
act  upon  will  be  found  in  the  reflection,  that  the  sacrifice  of  my  own  ease  and  comfort 
may  enable  me  to  gratify  some  anxiety  about  you?  This  change,  however,  is  too  un- 
certain to  be  much  relied  upon.  As  a  symptom  that  I  wish  for  connection,  may  I  hope 
that  you  will  gratify  the'  first  request  of  the  kind  which,  as  a  peer,  I  have  made,  viz., 
that  you  will  wear  my  scarf  as  my  first-named  chaplain,  under  the  statute  of  Hen.  8.7 
Your  sister,  who  has  been  considerably  agitated  by  this  change,  requests  the  love  of 
you,  and  her  sister  whom  she  does  not  yet  know.  John  is  gone  into  Wales.  The  rest 
of  my  family  are  all  well.  God  bless  you,  dear  Mat.,  and  believe  me,  alterum  sed  eun- 
de/n,  and,  with  mutato  nomine  only, 

"  Your  faithful  and  affectionate 

"EtDOX." 

Lord  Eldon  preserved,  among  his  papers,  the  following  hexameters 
upon  his  peerage.  The  author's  name  is  not  annexed  :  he  had  pro- 
bably no  very  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  family  of  Scott,  as  he 
mistakes  the  Durham  estate  of  Eldon,  whence  the  title  is  taken,  for 
those  Eldon  or  Eildon  hills  in  Roxburghshire,  which  are  associated, 
in  poetical  records,  with  the  name  of  Thomas  of  Erceldoune,  "  the 
Rhymer." 


184  LIFE  OF  LORD 

ON  SEEING  IS  LAST  NIGHT'S  NEWSPAPER  THE  INTENDED  PROMOTION  AND  TITLE  OF  SIB 

JOHN  SCOTT. 

Monies,  baud  Musis  incognita  nomina,  montes 
Claustrum  olim  regnorum  atque  alta  repagula  belli, — 
Vos  quando,  arma  minata  armisque  echicta,  colebat 
Libertas  raontana  sibi,  (dum  fata  vetabant 
Imperil  pacem,  atque  uni  submittere  sceptro), — 
Marti  olim  sedes,  et  jam  celebrata  Minervse! 
Montibus  hisce  novum  decus  addidit  ipse,  coronam 
Hinc  Themidi  intexens:  titulos  virtute  paratos 
Hinc  dedit:  et  patriac  puros  gratatur  honores.* 

Lord  Eldon's  elevation  to  the  peerage  having  entitled  him  to  add 
supporters  to  his  arms,  this  opportunity  was  taken  of  introducing  into 
his  escutcheon  some  honourable  augmentations,  commemorating  the 
high  position  now  attained  both  by  him  and  his  brother,  in  different 
branches  of  the  law.f 

*  Which  may  be  thus  rendered: — 

Hills,  not  unnamed  in  song, — hills,  once  the  bound 

Of  kingdoms,  and  high  barrier  of  their  wars, 

While  Mountain  Liberty,  menaced  with  arms 

And  arming,  till'd  you,  (fate  forbidding  yet 

An  Empire's  peace,  a  single  sceptre's  sway,) — 

Seats  once  of  Mars ! — Minerva  decks  you  now 

With  a  new  grace, — from  you,  a  coronet  weaves 

For  Themis — gives,  from  you,  the  title  won 

By  merit — and  upon  these  honours  pure 

Congratulates  the  land ! 

t  NOTE  BY  THE  PRESENT  EARL. — The  grant  of  the  garter  king  of  arms  bears  date 
the  10th  of  October,  1799:  and,  after  reciting  his  majesty's  letters  patent  which  bestow 
upon  Lord  Eldon  the  honour  of  the  peerage,  and  the  earl  marshal's  warrant  author- 
izing Sir  Isaac  Heard,  garter  principal  king  of  arms, "  to  grant  to  the  said  John  Baron 
Eldon  such  supporters  as  may  be  proper  to  be  borne  by  him,  and  by  those  to  whom 
the  said  honour  shall  descend,  in  virtue  of  his  majesty's  said  letters  patent  of  creation, 
and  also  to  grant,  confirm  and  exemplify,  in  the  same  patent,  the  arms  borne  by  his 
family,  with  such  variation  as  may  be  necessary,  to  be  borne  by  his  lordship, and  his 
descendants,  and  by  those  of  his  late  father,  William  Scott, deceased:"  the  instrument 
proceeds  thus:  "I,  the  said  garter,  with  the  consent  of  the  said  earl  marshal,  and  by 
virtue  of  my  office,  do  by  these  presents  grant,  confirm  and  exemplify,  to  the  said 
John  Baron  Eldon,  the  arms  following,  that  is  to  say :  Argent,  an  anchor  erect,  sable, 
between  three  lion's  heads,  erased,  gules;  on  a  chief  wave  azure,  a  portcullis  Or;  and 
for  crest,  on  a  wreath  of  the  colours,  a  lion's  head,  erased,  gules,  gorged  with  a  chain, 
a  portcullis  therefrom  pendant,  Or,  (a  mullet  for  difference,)  to  be  borne  by  him,  and 
his  descendants,  and  by  those  of  his  said  late  father,  William  Scott,  deceased.  And 
I  do  also,  by  these  presents,  grant  unto  the  said  John  Baron  Eldon  the  supporters 
following:  viz.,  On  each  side,  a  lion  guardant  proper,  gorged  with  a  double  chain,  a 
portcullis  attached  thereto,  gold,  from  which  is  suspended  a  shield  argent,  charged 
with  a  civic  wreath,  vert ;  as  the  same  are  in  the  margin  hereof  more  plainly  depicted, 
to  be  borne  and  used  for  ever  hereafter  by  him  the  said  John  Baron  Eldon,  and  by 
those  to  whom  the  said  honour  shall  descend,  in  virtue  of  his  majesty's  said  letters 
patent  of  creation  :  in  witness,"  &c. 

At  the  commencement  of  this  work,  it  was  mentioned  that  Lord  Eldon  and  his 
family,  before  his  elevation  to  the  peerage,  bore  the  coat  of  arms  and  the  crest  of  the 
Scotts  of  Bal  weary. 

A  seal,  that  belonged  to  his  eldest  son,  engraved  with  the  crest,  and  a  shield  on  a 
panel  in  the  hall  of  University  College,  Oxford,  charged  with  the  arms  of  his  brother 
William  Scott,  are  instances  still  remaining  of  the  family  having  so  worn  them. — 
The  addition  made  in  October,  1799,  of  the  chain  and  portcullis  on  the  crest,  and  of 
the  portcullis  on  a  chief  in  the  shield,  were  granted  in  record  of  Lord  Eldon  having 
become  chief  justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  and  as  such,  wearing,  on  state  occasions, 
over  his  robe,  the  collar  decorated  with  that  badge  of  the  sovereign  from  whom  his 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  185 

Lord  Eldon  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  24th  of 
September,  1799,  introduced  by  Lord  Grenville,  then  the  leader  of 
administration  in  that  House,  and  Lord  Walsingham,  then  chairman 
of  the  committees. 

On  the  6th  of  November,  which  was  then  the  first  day  of  Michael- 
mas term,  Lord  Eldon  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Ser- 
jeants. 

He  was  succeeded  in  the  office  of  attorney-general  by  the  then  so- 
licitor-general, Sir  John  Mitford.* 

Lady  Eldon,  in  all  her  anticipations  of  her  lord's  judicial  promo- 
tion, had  been  much  fretted  by  the  consideration  that  he  would  have 
to  assume  the  ordinary  head-dress  of  the  common  law  judges,  a 
powdered  bush-wig.  She  had,  therefore,  induced  him  to  sit  for  his 
portrait  while  he  was  yet  but  attorney-general,  so  as  to  make  sure  of 
preserving  a  record  of  his  features  undisguised  by  the  obnoxious 
peruke:  and  the  portrait  which  was  painted  by  Sir  Thomas,  then 
Mr.  Lawrence,  (and  which  remained  in  Lord  Eldon's  possession  to 

authority  was  derived.  The  anchor,  together  with  the  azure  colour  and  wavy  border 
of  the  chief,  on  which  ordinary  of  the  shield  the  portcullis  is  placed,  are  commemorat- 
ive of  the  elevation  of  his  brother,  William  Scott,  to  the  bench  as  judge  of  (he  High 
Court  of  Admiralty. 

The  supporters  appropriated  to  the  title  of  Eldon  again  present  the  chain  and 
portcullis;  and  the  shield  with  the  civic  wreath  attached  to  them,  forms  another 
emblem  of  the  high  civil  distinctions  which  the  brothers  had  attained. 

Heraldry  is  generally  understood  to  admit  of  an  arbitrary  assumption  of  mottos  ; 
nor  is  it  customary  to  embody  them  in  the  wording  of  an  heraldic  grant;  but  in  the 
margin  of  this  grant  to  Lord  Eldon,  where  the  whole  is  depicted  as  usual,  the  Latin 
words  "Sit  sine  labe  decus,"  signifying  "  let  honour  be  without  stain,"  are  adopted 
as  the  motto,  being  those  suggested  at  the  time  by  Lord  Stowell,  and  which  do  not 
appear  to  have  ever  been  used  before,  either  by  the  Scotts,  or  by  any  other  family. 

We  find  the  same  motto  again  used  afterwards  by  Lord  Stowell  himself  in  the 
margin  of  the  grant  of  supporters,  which,  when  he  had  been  created  a  peer,  July  17, 
1821,  it  became  necessary  to  make  to  him,  and  which  grant  bears  date  December  7th 
of  that  year.  From  Lord  Eldon's  supporters,  those  of  Lord  Stowell  differed  in  this 
respect  only,  that  instead  of  the  shield  argent  being  "charged  with  a  civic  wreath 
vert,"  it  is  "  charged  with  an  anchor  erect  sable,"  as  more  peculiarly  appropriate  to 
the  office  of  judge  of  the  admiralty,  which,  at  that  time,  he  had  already  held  for 
twenty-three  years. 

When  Lord  Eldon  took  his  seat  as  a  baron,  he  delivered  his  pedigree,  according  to 
the  usual  course  at  that  time.  This  pedigree  has  been  lost,  like  most  others,  as  I 
have  learnt  from  Mr.  Leary,  the  librarian  of  the  House  of  Lords,  who  has  collected 
and  caused  to  be  bound  for  the  library  of  the  House  such  pedigrees  of  peers  as  he 
was  able  to  find  undestroyed. 

It  is  now  no  longer  the  course  of  the  House  of  Lords  to  require  pedigrees  to  be 
delivered  on  similar  occasions;  which  Mr.  Leary  told  me  was  principally  owing  to 
Lord  Eldon,  who  thought  such  a  practice  opened  a  channel  which  might,  in  some 
cases,  be  applied  to  fraudulent  purposes. 

*  NOTK  ii  v  THK  PRESKXT  EARL. — When  the  appointment  of  Sir  John  Scott  to  the 
office  of  solicitor-general,  in  1783,  was  staled  to  the  reader,  the  parallel  progress  of 
his  brother,  -Sir  William  Scott,  to  the  office  of  king's  advocate-general,  and  to  other 
appointments,  was  mentioned.  Since  that  year,  Sir  William  Scott  had  received  the 
appointment  of  master  of  the  faculties,  on  the  3d  of  April,  1790  ;  he  had  been  elected 
to  the  bench  of  the  Middle  Temple,  July  5,  1794,  where  he  held  the  office  of  treasurer 
for  the  year  1807-8;  and  in  the  year  previous  to  the  one  in  which  Lord  Eldon  was 
elevated  from  the  office  of  attorney-general  to  the  judgment  seat,  Sir  William  Scott 
became  judge  of  the  High  Court  of  Admiraliy  of  England,  by  letters  patent  of  King 
George  III.,  which  bear  date  October  26,  1798,  and  he  was  sworn  of  his  majesty's 
most  honourable  privy  council,  on  the  31st  of  the  same  mouth. 


186  LIFE  OF  LORD 

his  death,)  is  dressed  in  exact  accordance  with  the  toilette  which  he 
practised  till  his  elevation  to  the  bench. 

"In  compliance  with  Lady  Eldon's  feeling,"  says  the  present  earl, 
"  Lord  Eldon  applied,  as  he  has  told  me  often,  to  King  George  III. 
to  allow  him  to  dispense  with  his  wig  at  times  when  he  was  not 
engaged  in  performing  official  functions.  He  pressed  on  the  king  the 
fact,  that  in  former  days,  under  the  reigns  of  some  of  his  majesty's 
predecessors  (referring,  I  think,  particularly  to  James  I.  and  Charles 
I.),  wigs  were  not  worn  by  the  judges.  'True,'  replied  the  king, 
'good-humouredly,  'I  admit  the  correctness  of  your  statement,  and 
am  willing,  if  you  like  it,  that  you  should  do  as  they  did :  for  though 
they  certainly  had  no  wigs,  yet  they  wore  their  beards.' '  Lord 
Eldon,  shortly  before  his  death,  relating  to  Mrs.  Forster  this  story 
of  his  application  to  the  king,  mentioned  also  the  reasons  assigned 
by  him  to  his  majesty.  "I  suffered  at  that  time  from  headaches; 
besides,  I  told  him  my  wife  did  not  like  me  in  a  wig.  '  No,  no,' 
said  the  king,  'I  will  have  no  innovations  in  my  time.' '  When  he 
became  chancellor,  the  wig  of  private  life  was  discontinued. 

The  days  of  his  chief  justiceship,  though  they  lasted  only  from 
July,  1799,  to  April,  1801,  contributed  greatly  to  his  fame.  On  the 
bench  of  a  common  law  court,  no  scope  was  allowed  to  his  only 
judicial  imperfection,  the  tendency  to  hesitate.  A  common  law 
judge,  when  he  has  to  try  causes  at  Nisi  Prius,  or  indictments  in  a 
crown  court,  must  sum  up  and  state  his  opinion  to  the  jury  on  the 
instant ;  and  when  he  sits  in  bank  with  his  brethren  to  decide  ques- 
tions of  law,  must  keep  pace  with  them  in  coming  to  his  conclusions. 
Thus  compelled  to  decide  without  postponement,  Lord  Eldon  at 
once  established  the  highest  judicial  reputation:  a  reputation,  indeed, 
which  afterwards  wrought  somewhat  disadvantageously  against  him- 
self when  lord  chancellor,  by  showing  how  little  ground  there  was 
for  his  diffidence,  and  consequently  how  little  necessity  for  his  doubts 
and  delays. 

The  close  of  the  year  1799  was  saddened  by  the  death  of  Henry 
Scott,  to  whom  both  of  his  brothers  were  much  attached.  On  the 
death  of  this  beloved  relation,  who  is  said  to  have  been  endowed 
with  faculties  not  inferior  to  those  of  either  William  or  John,  the  latter 
writes  thus  to  his  sister  Barbara : 
"  Dear  Bab, 

"After  it  has  pleased  God  to  take  from  us  one  of  the  family,  I  feel  most  strongly 
pressed  by  my  heart  to  send  you,  my  mother,  and  sister  Burden,  as  parts  of  it  which 
yet  remain,  rny  anxious  good  wishes  and  the  expression  of  cordial  hope  for  the  hap- 
piness of  all  of  you.  I  have  felt  very  acutely  upon  this  event,  and  my  mind  has  been 
running  back  through  scenes  of  infancy,  youth  and  manhood,  which  I  spent  with 
poor  Harry,  till  my  firmness  has  occasionally  quite  failed  me  and  my  spirits  have 
been  depressed  excessively.  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  have  a  few  lines,  to  hear  how 
my  poor  mother  and  you  and  Jane,  and  all  her  family  are,  and  I  beg  lo  be  most 
affectionately  and  kindly  remembered  to  all  of  them.  I  write  this  where  I  can  neither 
find  any  such  paper  or  other  matters  as  I  ought  at  present  to  make  use  of;  but  I  am 
sure  you  will  receive  in  any  form  the  affections  of  myself  and  all  the  family,  and  I 
remain,  dear  Bab, 

"Truly  and  cordially  yours, 

"London,  December,  1799." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  187 

The  first  speech  of  Lord  Eldon  in  the  House  of  Lords,  of  which 
there  is  any  report,  was  made  on  the  third  reading  of  the  bill  passed 
in  1800  for  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act.  Lord  Hol- 
land having  argued  against  the  suspension,  on  the  ground  that  there 
had  been  no  conviction  for  high  treason  except  in  the  single  case  of 
O'Coigley, 

Lore!  Eldon  said*  that  the  person  so  convicted  was  proved  to  have  been  planning, 
with  disaffected  bodies  of  men  in  this  country,  the  destruction  of  the  British  interest 
in  Ireland;  and  surely  the  noble  lord  need  not  be  told  that  a  person  attempting  to 
sever  the  crown  of  Ireland  from  that  of  England  was  guilty  of  an  overt  act  of  trea- 
son. The  noble  lord  had  argued  that  none  should  be  apprehended  but  such  as  could 
be  brought  to  trial ;  but  he  should  know  that  cases  might  occur,  in  which,  for  want  of 
two  witnesses,  persons  could  not  be  legally  convicted,  though  no  doubt  remained  of 
their  guilt.  But  would  the  noble  lord  say  that  therefore  no  danger  existed  ?  Would 
the  noble  lord  argue  that,  because  sufficient  legal  proof  could  only  be  brought  against 
one  of  the  men  who  were  put  upon  their  trial  at  Maidstone.the  legislature  should  not 
have  endeavoured  to  prevent  the  mischief]  He  would  venture  to  say,  that  to  the 
suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was  owing  the  preservation  of  the  crown  in  the 
House  of  Hanover;  and  that,  by  it,  late  and  former  conspiracies  had  been  broken  to 
pieces. 

The  union  with  Ireland  was  completed  by  the  legislature  in  the 
spring  of  1800;  but  in  the  debates  on  this  important  measure,  Lord 
Eldon  took  no  part. 

He  interested  himself  warmly  in  favour  of  Lord  Auckland's  bill 
for  the  prevention  of  adultery,  which  was  discussed  in  the  same  ses- 
sion. The  most  material  clause  was  one  which  prohibited  the  mar- 
riage of  the  adulterers  after  the  divorce. 

Lord  Eldon  supported  the  principle  of  this  clause,  not  because  he  thought  it  would 
be  sufficient  to  prevent  the  enormous  crime,  for  so  he  regarded  it,  of  adultery,  but 
because  he  thought  it  would  have  a  tendency  to  such  prevention.  It  was  true  that  the 
contract  of  a  seducer  to  marry  his  victim  was  invalid  in  law;  but  a  simple  and  silly 
woman  might  be  likely  enough  to  act  on  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  fulfilled,  anil 
that  might  be  one  of  the  terms  on  which  she  surrendered  her  virtue.  Let  her,  there- 
fore, be  told  by  this  bill  that  she  would  be  effectually  prevented  from  marrying  her 
paramour.f 

The  first  bill  having  been  found  defective,  Lord  Auckland,  in  the 
month  of  May,  introduced  another,  having  the  same  general  objects, 
and  proposing  to  punish  adultery  as  a  misdemeanour.  This  bill  being 
opposed  by  Lord  Moira, — 

Lord  Eldon  deprecated  the  rejection  of  it,  because  he  was  certain  that  nine  out  of 
every  ten  cases  of  adultery  that  came  into  the  courts  below,  or  to  that  bar,  were 
founded  in  the  most  infamous  collusion,  and  that,  as  the  law  stood,  it  was  a  farce  and 
a  mockery,  most  of  the  cases  being  previously  settled  in  some  room  in  the  city;  and 
that  juries  were  called  to  give  exemplary  damages,  which  damages  were  never  paid 
to,  nor  expected  by,  the  injured  husband.t 

On  the  third  reading,  Lord  Eldon  again  spoke  in  favour  of  the  bill.§ 
It  passed  the  House  of  Lords,  but  was  thrown  out  in  the  House  of 
Commons. 

In  the  summer  of  1800  the  bench  of  the  Gommon  Pleas  was  de- 
prived of  a  most  able  and  efficient  judge,  by  the  sudden  death  of  Mr. 
Justice  Buller.  His  talents  and  his  legal  acquirements  have  been 

»  Par).  Hist.  1800,  Feb.  27.  f  Parl.  Hist.  1 800,  April  4. 

*  Parl.  Hist.  1800,  May  16.  §  Parl.  Hist.  1800,  May  23. 


]88  LIFE  OF  LORD 

universally  appreciated :  and  Lord  Eldon  has  left  a  testimonial  to  his 
candour  also. 

"I  must  do  Mr.  Justice  Buller,"  says  he,  in  the  Anecdote  Book, 
"  the  credit  of  recording,  that  in  my  opinion  he  had  more  candour  as 
a  judge  than  the  profession  in  general  thought  he  possessed.  He 
went  into  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  utterly  unacquainted  with  the 
doctrines  of  equity.  Lord  Mansfield  had  said  in  that  court,  that  '  he 
never  liked  law  so  well  as  when  it  was  like  equity.'  Buller  was  per- 
suaded that  this  was  right.  The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  Lord  Mans- 
field had  not  retained  a  very  accurate  memory  of  cases  in  equity.  In 
order,  however,  to  introduce  and  establish  this  likeness  between  law 
and  equity,  doctrines  were  held,  new  in  courts  of  law.  When  Lord 
Kenyon  succeeded  Lord  Mansfield,  this  was  set  right,  and  suitors  for 
equity  were  sent  to  the  courts  of  equity.  When  I  sat  with  Mr.  Jus- 
tice Buller  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  had  some  temperate 
talk  with  him  upon  these  subjects,  I  think  he  so  far  departed  from  the 
opinion  of  Lord  Mansfield,  'that  law  was  never  so  right,  as  when  it 
was  like  equity,'  as  to  be  not  much  indisposed  to  agree  with  Lord 
Chief  Justice  de  Grey,  who,  in  the  same  week  in  which  Lord  Mans- 
field had  declared  that  '  he  never  liked  law  so  well  as  when  it  was 
like  equity,'  took  occasion  publicly  to  state  from  the  bench,  that  '  he 
never  liked  equity  so  well,  as  when  it  was  like  law.'  With  all  de- 
ference to  these  great  men,  law  and  equity  ought  to  be  considered  as 
distinct  systems ;  and  that  they  are  so  considered  and  kept  apart,  in 
England,  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  best  provisions  in  our  constitution." 

In  another  passage  of  the  Anecdote  Book  he  pursues  the  subject 
further : — 

"  Lord  Kenyon,  when  chief  justice,  was  very  apt,  if,  upon  a  trial, 
he  found  that  a  plaintiff  could  not  succeed,  who,  in  his  judgment, 
ought  to  succeed  according  to  equity,  but  could  not  be  relieved  at 
law,  to  advise  the  party  to  apply  to  a  court  of  equity.  No  man  hated 
iniquity  more  than  he  detested  it,  and  therefore  he  was  always  dis- 
posed to  put  a  deserving  party  in  the  right  way,  who  had  begun  his 
suit  for  justice  in  a  wrong  way.  But  he  had  the  habit  of  advising 
parties  to  apply  to  a  court  of  equity,  in  terms  which  affected,  by  the 
weight  of  his  authority,  the  credit  of  such  a  court.  The  advice  was 
generally  given  thus : — This  party  can't  succeed  at  law,  though  in 
conscience  he  is  right:  I  must,  therefore,  say  to  him,  JIM  in  malam 
rem:  and  then  construed  the  words  thus:  Go  into  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery. Lord  Thurlow  once  said  to  him,  *  Taffy,  when  did  you  first 
think  the  Court  of  Chancery  was  such  a  mala  res'?  I  remember  that 
you  made  a  very  good  thing  of  it.  And  when  did  attornies  and  so- 
licitors become  so  very  odious  as  you,  now  and  then,  at  present  repre- 
sent them  to  be  ?  I  don't  remember  that  when  we  were  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery  they  were  thought  by  you  to  be  such  very  bad  fellows.' 
I  have  heard  dozens  of  common  lawyers  flippantly  abusing  courts  of 
equity,  upon  the  authority  of  this  piece  of  Latin  of  Lord  Kenyon's ; 
and  it  is  very  much  to  be  lamented,  perhaps,  that  the  authority  of  so 
great  a  lawyer,  (who  so  thoroughly  well  knew  how  defective  and  in- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  189 

sufficient  the  common  law  would  be  to  answer  the  exigencies  of  com- 
plete justice,  and  how  absolutely  necessary  the  jurisdiction  exercised 
in  the  Court  of  Chancery  is,)  can  be  resorted  to  in  support  of  that  abuse 
of  such  a  court  by  those  who  may  know  the  practice  of  courts  of  law, 
but  who  are  certainly  most  astonishingly  ignorant  of  the  nature  and 
principles  of  the  jurisprudence  of  this  country  taken  altogether,  and  of 
the  necessity  of  that  separation  of  courts  of  law  and  equity  which  so 
mainly  contributes  to  the  complete  and  effectual  administration  of  jus- 
tice in  this  country,  and  secures  to  the  people  an  administration  of 
justice  to  an  extent  and  in  a  degree  such  as  are  unknown  and  must 
be  ever  unknown  where  that  separation  is  not  effectually  made  and 
observed." 

The  opinions,  here  censured  by  Lord  Eldon  for  their  flippancy, 
seem  to  be  much  modified  since  his  time.  At  this  day,  hardly  any 
one  will  be  found  to  deny  that  in  many  branches  of  equitable  juris- 
diction, the  machinery  of  a  court  of  law  would  be  unsuitable,  and 
indeed  wholly  inadequate.  This  is  practically  proved  by  what  occurs 
every  week  in  cases  where  the  jurisdictions  of  law  and  of  equity  are 
concurrent :  as  in  matters  of  account,  and  in  suits  for  contribution, — 
where  the  party  seeking  his  remedy  may  have  it  in  either  court,  but 
yet  is  almost  always  found  to  prefer  a  court  of  equity,  because  its 
instruments  for  administering  that  remedy  are  so  much  more  complete 
than  those  which  a  court  of  law  affords.  It  would  be  no  good  reason- 
ing to  say,  that  if  courts  of  equity  were  abolished,  these  instruments 
and  machinery  might  be  transferred  to  the  courts  of  law;  because  that 
would  not  be  to  blend  the  two  separate  systems  into  one,  but  only  to 
commit  the  two  systems,  still  separate,  to  the  administration  of  one 
judicature.  Such  was  actually  the  constitution  of  the  court  of  ex- 
chequer until  it  was  remodeled,  in  1841,  when  its  equitable  judica- 
ture was  transferred  to  the  Court  of  Chancery ;  which  very  transfer 
arose  from  a  general  feeling  that  the  two  systems  of  law  and  equity 
are  not  conveniently  administered  in  the  same  court.  The  only  de- 
scriptions of  cases  in  which  any  experienced  person  would  now  think 
of  investing  a  court  of  law  with  the  jurisdiction  exercised  in  equity 
(and  even  in  these  cases  the  change  would  be  by  no  means  free  from 
practical  objections),  are,  where  the  question  turns  upon  one  demand, 
mooted  by  one  plaintiff  or  one  set  of  plaintiffs,  all  having  one  and  the 
same  relation  to  the  subject,  against  one  defendant,  or  one  set  of  de- 
fendants, also  having  all  of  them  one  and  the  same  relation  to  the 
subject:  as  where  several  sue  or  are  sued  in  a  class.  The  matter 
may,  perhaps,  be  fairly  stated  thus : — If  the  demands  are  numerous,  as 
where  an  estate  is  to  be  administered  for  creditors ;  or  if  there  be  more 
parties  than  one,  who  do  not,  among  themselves,  hold  the  same  rela- 
tion to  the  matter,  as  in  many  cases  of  joint-stock  and  other  mercan- 
tile transactions,  the  objects  sought  are  usually  too  various,  and  the 
facts  too  much  complicated  with  considerations  of  law,  to  be  properly 
dealt  with  otherwise  than  by  that  sort  of  manifold  inquiry  which  is 
best  conducted  by  a  master,  and  best  solved  by  his  report.  On  the 
other  hand,  where  there  is  a  complete  unity  of  interest  on  each  side, 


190  LIFE  OF  LORD 

arid  that  interest  turns  upon  the  decision  of  one  matter,  as  where  a 
plaintiff  applies  for  an  injunction  against  the  piracy  of  copyright  or 
patent  right,  and  is  content  to  waive  the  account  of  copies  or  articles 
piralically  sold — or  where  he  seeks  simply  an  injunction  against  waste, 
or  a  foreclosure  upon  an  ordinary  mortgage,  or  even  the  specific  per- 
formance of  a  contract, — in  these  and  other  cases  of  the  like  charac- 
ter,* there  is  reasonable  ground  to  argue  that  the  jurisdiction  upon 
affidavit,  which  is  exercised  in  many  matters  by  a  court  of  law,  might 
be  as  effectually  applied  as  the  jurisdiction  upon  bill  and  answer 
which  is  exercised  by  a  court  of  equity.  Even,  however,  as  to  this 
last  class  of  cases,  it  is  by  no  means  clear  that  the  cognizance  of  them 
could  be  removed  to  the  courts  of  law,  without  inducing  much  of  that 
inconvenience  and  anomaly  wrhich  Lord  Eldon  apprehended :  as,  for 
instance,  in  the  application  of  the  common  law  machinery  to  the  ex- 
traction of  a  defendant's  answer  on  oath.  And  if  it  be  surmised  that 
Lord  Eldon's  studies  had  given  him  a  bias  toward  equitable  jurisdic- 
tion, it  must  be  remembered  that,  great  as  was  his  knowledge  of  equity, 
he  had  as  great  a  knowledge  of  common  law  to  balance  it. 

A  chief  justice,  less  competent  to  his  functions  than  Lord  Eldon, 
might  have  been  much  embarrassed  by  the  loss  of  such  a  coadjutor 
as  Mr.  Justice  Buller;  but  Lord  Eldon,  without  the  slightest  arro- 
gance toward  any  of  his  colleagues,  was  too  much  master  of  his  whole 
duty  to  be  dependent  on  their  aid :  and  he  continued  to  discharge  his 
high  office  with  a  daily  increase  of  reputation. 

But  a  heavier  loss  befell  him  in  this  year.  It  was  the  death  of  Mrs. 
Scott,  his  mother,  who  paid  her  long-deferred  debt  to  nature  on  the 
16th  of  July,  1800,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one.  Mr.  John  Surtees  says, 
in  a  private  letter,  "  I  remember  old  Mrs.  Scott  dining  at  my  father's, 
and  my  being  much  gratified  to  hear  my  father  and  her  talk  of  old 
times:  she  seemed  a  sensible  observing  old  woman."  She  had  the 
good  fortune  of  living,  in  the  full  possession  of  her  faculties,  to  be- 
hold her  eldest  son  placed  in  the  judgment  seat  of  the  Court  of  Ad- 
miralty, and  her  youngest,  and,  as  it  has  been  supposed,  her  favourite, 
dignified  with  a  chief  justiceship,  and  with  a  peerage.  "  To  think," 
exclaimed  the  old  lady,  when  the  latter  was  ennobled,  "  to  think  that 
I,  in  this  out  of  the  way  corner  of  the  world,  should  live  to  be  the 
mother  of  ajord !  "  A  few  months  more  of  life  would  have  brought 
her  to  see  her  son  on  the  topmost  round  of  legal  ambition,  invested 
with  the  honours  of  the  great  seal.  The  mother  of  Lord  Lyndhurst, 
and  the  mother  of  Lord  Brougham,  had  each  the  happiness  of  witness- 
ing such  a  consummation. 

The  following  letter  has  no  date,  but  appears,  from  internal  evi- 
dence, to  have  been  written  in  the  year  1800,  with  reference  to  some 
suggestion  that  Lord  Eldon's  son  should  offer  himself  at  the  next 
election  for  the  county  of  Durham :  — 

*  See,  for  instance,  Legh  v.  Legh,  1  Bosanq.  and  Pul.  447,  and  Payne  r.  Rogers, 
Doug!.  Rep.  407. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  191 

(Lord  Eldun  to  Sir  William  Scott.) — (Extract.) 

Not  dated,  but  probably  written  in  1300. 
"Dear  Brother, 

"I  have  had  a  letter  from  Burdon.  He  assigns  no  reason  but  a  love  of  retirement. 
He  adds  only,  what  surprises  me,  but  what  is,  in  effect,  this :  that  his  support  of  the' 
treason  and  sedition  bills,  and  the  stronger  measures  of  government,  have  created 
him  bitter,  fierce  and  unrelenting  enemies,  in  a  county  in  which  he  seems  to  say  and 
to  think  all  good  men  are  inconceivably  timid.  Sir  H.  Vane  Tempest,  I  understand, 
has  offered  himself,  and  bids  defiance  to  competitors.  Mowbray,  the  great  land  agent 
of  the  county,  has  called  upon  me ;  he  says  he  is  sure  the  thing  would  do.  Sander- 
son, of  Sunderland,  has  written  to  me  to  say  that  three-fourths  of  the  Sunderland 
freeholders  are  divided;  but  to  this  there  is  an  objection,  like  poor  Edmund  Burke's 
to  modern  revolutions:  the  working  begins  with  the  lowest  instead  of  the  highest. 
One  great  objection  to  the  proposition  must  be  of  this  sort,  from  the  nature  or  things : 
I  am  necessarily  a  new  man  in  the  count}',  because  I  am  so  everywhere the  pro- 
perty nothing — official  reputation  worth  nothing  in  the  eye  of  a  country  squire  or  a 
county  lord.  The  weight  of  great  men,  therefore,  must  be  on  the  other  side.  But  if 
it  was  otherwise,  I  do  not  descry  any  thing  prudent  in  engaging  in  such  a  business. 
Sir  John  Eden,  with  a  better  fortune  in  his  family  than  I  have,  has  been  taught  by 
experience  that,  with  only  such  a  fortune,  a  man  has  more  reason  to  rejoice  when  he 
can  slip  away  from  the  representation  of  a  county,  than  when  he  is  placed  in  it. 
Here  we  must  begin  with  a  contest;  and,  if  not,  there  is  no  security  against  it  in 
future,  and  no  retreating  from  it  when  it  comes.  An  immediate  expenditure  of  15,000/. 
or  16,0007.  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  a  gross  injury  to  John.  It  would  break  up  all 
that  I  have  been  projecting  to  render  peerage  to  him  a  tolerable  evil.  Besides  this,  a 
man  ought  to  have  a  certainly  continuous  income,  very  large,  indeed,  who  can  have 
a  son  in  his  lifetime  living  as  the  member  of  a  county.  I  don't  know  what  allow- 
ance would  be  equal  to  such  a  station  in  modern  times.  I  pay  now,  to  and  for  John 
about  1000/.  a  year,  that  is,  800/.  to  himself,  80/.  as  his  income  tax,  and  the  rest  for 
his  chambers  in  Lincoln's  Inn.  Attending  to  the  purposes  which  this  seems  to 
answer,  four  times  that  sum  would  not  do;  and  I  could  do  nothing  so  unjust  to  him, 
as  to  engage  at  all  events  for  a  system  of  expense,  the  whole  weight  of  which,  in 
justice  to  the  rest  of  my  family,  must  eventually  fall  upon  him.  And  for  what  is  the 
present  expense  of  a  contest,  and  the  expense  of  such  a  system,  to  be  incurred?  That 
any  younger  son  of  mine  should  ever  have  such  a  seat  is  out  of  all  probability.  I 
have  no  right  to  reckon  upon  seven  years'  existence.  Is  it  to  be  incurred  for  a  seat 
ior  those  few  years  ?  Suppose  Providence  continues  me  here  longer,  what  security 
is  there  against  a  second  contest1?  or  rather  is  there  not  a  certainty  of  it?  The  thin^ 
will  never  do.  I  hope  to  hear  no  more  of  it.  But  I  hope,  more  anxiously,  that  nobody 
will  suggest  it  to  John.  Don't  imagine  by  this  that  I  imagine  you  would,  in  a  grave 
matter  of  this  sort,  unless  you  and  I  were  agreed  upon  it  previously.  But  there  are 
foolish  and  meddling  people  who  are  too  apt  to  talk  upon  interesting  subjects.  I 
can't  wish  you  better  than  by  wishing  that  God  may  preserve  you  to  see  your  son 
twenty-six,  and  that  in  the  mean  time  he  should  give  you  no  more  uneasiness  than 
John  has  given  me.  But,  if  we  both  live  to  that  period,  I  will  ask  you  whether  nine- 
tenths  of  the  little  uneasiness  you  will  have  had  have  not  proceeded  from  the  tattle 
which  strangers  to  you  and  your  circumstances  hold  to  him  who  ought  to  know 
nothing  of  them  but  from  yourself.  You  see  I  am  writing  in  affectionate  confidence. 
I  am  growing  grave,  however,  and  that's  not  right  towards  you  at  Southampton.  I 
close  this  part  of  the  letter,  therefore,  by  saying,  that  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  John  has 
been  again  plagued  with  his  asthmatic  complaint,  but  he  is  better,  thank  God. 
"  In  confidence,  my  opinion  is  that  we  are  as  likely  to  have  invasion  as  peace." 

Lord  Eldon  had  some  amusing  stories  referable  to  this  period  of 
his  life.  The  Anecdote  Book  records  a  comic  defence  before  him  of 
a  rioter,  by  Mr.  Jekyll,  who,  for  half  a  century,  was  the  foremost  wit 
of  the  bar :  — 

'  This  gentleman,  in  his  practice  as  a  common  lawyer,  was  very 
successful,  as  many  others  have  been,  in  diverting  the  attention  of 
jurymen  at  county  assizes,  from  thinking  seriously  in  serious  proceed- 
ings, by  introducing  observations  and  jokes,  tending  to  turn  all  that 


192  LIFE  OF  LORD 

was  passing  into  the  ridiculous.  I  went  his  circuit  as  a  judge,  when 
I  was  chief  justice  of  the  Common  Pleas.  There  was  a  trial  before 
me,  I  think  in  Somersetshire,  of  a  prisoner  for  a  riot.  There  were 
several  questions  asked  by  Jekyll  and  the  counsel  for  the  prosecution 
(Jekyll  being  counsel  for  the  prisoner)  as  to  the  number  of  persons 
that  composed  the  body  of  rioters.  This  species  of  questioning  ap- 
pearing to  me  to  go  to  unnecessary  length,  I  interposed,  by  saying, 
'  Mr.  Jekyll,  is  it  not  sufficiently  proved  that  there  were  more  than 
three  persons?  Now,  do  not  three  constitute  enough  in  number  as 
to  matters  of  riot  ? '  'I  beg  your  lordship's  pardon,'  said  Jekyll ;  '  the 
case  has  not  been  fairly,  candidly  and  fully  opened  to  your  lordship 
and  the  jury.  They  have  not  told  you  and  the  jury  that  the  rioters 
were  all  tailors ;  and  I  therefore  confidently  submit  to  the  jury,  that 
in  this  particular  case  they  must  prove  that  there  were  present  at  least 
nine  times  three,  at  least  twenty-seven,  though  three  men,  not  tailors, 
might  be  enough.'  This  tickled  the  fancy  of  the  jurymen,  made  them 
laugh  heartily,  and  though  the  case  grew  serious-,  they  did  not  grow 
serious,  and  acquitted  the  prisoner. — Serjeant  Davy,  who  went  for 
many  years  the  western  circuit,  used  to  express  no  very  high  opinion 
of  the  talents  of  the  men  of  that  portion  of  the  kingdom ;  observing 
that  it  was  most  true  that  the  wise  men  came  from  the  east." 

Lord  Eldon  used  to  tell  another  story  of  Jekyll,  who  was  con- 
sidered, even  by  his  political  friends,  to  be  more  of  a  wit  than  of  a 
lawyer.  His  tendencies  being  rather  democratical,  he  had  visited  Paris 
more  than  once  during  the  early  days  of  the  French  Revolution,  and 
had  lived  a  good  deal  with  some  of  its  leaders,  of  whom,  and  particu- 
larly of  Mirabeau,  he  had  many  amusing  anecdotes.  "  One  day  at 
dinner,"  said  Lord  Eldon,  "  I  happened  to  set  next  to  Wilkes,  and 
we  were  talking  of  one  of  the  forms  of  government  which  the  French 
had  successively  taken  up.  I  spoke  of  it  with  disapprobation.  Said 
Wilkes,  '  they  had  it  from  my  friend  Jekyll,  who  told  them  it  was  the 
English  constitution. ,' " 

On  the  western  circuit,  Lord  Eldon  and  his  brother-judge,  in 
passing  through  Devonshire,  accepted  an  invitation  to  the  seat  of  a 
country  gentleman  on  the  banks  of  the  Tamar.  The  scenery  of  that 
river  being  very  beautiful,  their  host,  after  dinner,  persuaded  them, 
instead  of  continuing  their  journey  that  night,  to  remain  at  his  house 
till  the  following  morning,  and  then  proceed  in  his  pleasure  boat  along 
the  Tamar,  to  a  point  at  which  they  could  meet  their  carriages  and 
resume  the  ordinary  road.  This  being  arranged,  the  two  judges,  on 
the  following  morning,  pursued  their  journey  by  water,  until  luncheon 
time,  when  they  landed  on  a  pretty  piece  of  meadow  ground,  and 
spreading  their  table-cloth  on  the  grass,  addressed  themselves  to  the 
contents  of  their  host's  provision  basket.  Meanwhile  the  boatmen, 
left  to  themselves,  made  their  way  into  an  adjoining  orchard,  and 
began  to  pluck  the  fruit.  This  trespass  brought  out  the  owner,  who 
chased  the  intruders  to  the  scene  of  the  luncheon ;  and  angrily  ac- 
costing Lord  Eldon  and  his  colleague,  threatened  vehemently  to  have 
the  whole  party  before  the  judges.  This  outpouring  of  wrath  lasted 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  193 

for  some  time  before  it  was  possible  to  get  in  a  word  of  defence  or 
excuse  ;  but  at  last  their  lordships  were  permitted  to  explain,  and  the 
scrape  ended  with  a  handsome  apology,  and  still  better,  a  handsome 
present  from  the  judges,  and  a  good  deal  of  stammering  and  confu- 
sion on  the  part  of  the  injured  but  abashed  yeoman. 

It  was  the  good  fortune  of  Lord  Eldon,  and  deeply  felt  by  him  to 
be  so,  that  during  the  term  of  his  chief  justiceship,  he  seldom  had 
occasion  to  leave  a  prisoner  for  execution. 

"  One  female,"  said  he  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "  was  remarkably  kind  to 
me.  She  was  to  be  tried  for  murder;  and  she  made  her  escape  from 
gaol  just  before  the  assizes  commenced,  and  was  not  taken  till  they 
were  concluded,  so  she  had  to  remain  in  confinement  till  the  following 
year,  when  she  was  convicted.  Thus,  by  that  lady's  well-timed  flight, 
I  escaped  the  pain  of  having  to  pass  sentence  of  death." 

Among  the  stories  which  he  used  to  tell  of  causes  tried  before  him 
at  common  law,  there  is  a  pleasant  one,  preserved  both  by  Mr.  Farrer 
and  by  Mrs.  Forster,  of  a  trial  to  ascertain  the  property  in  a  dog. 
At  the  time  of  this  trial  Lord  Eldon  was  living  at  No.  42  in  Gower 
Street,  whither  he  had  removed  from  Powis  Place.  In  Gower  Street 
he  resided  about  thirteen  years,  and  he  used  to  say  that  his  house 
there  was  the  pleasantest  he  ever  occupied :  he  could  look  over  the 
fields,  then  open,  as  far  as  Hampstead,  Highgate  and  Islington,  and 
had  a  garden  with  excellent  vegetables,  and  even  peaches.  Adjoining 
was  a  waste  piece  of  ground;  and  "the  men  in  London,"  said  he  to 
Mrs.  Forster,  "used  to  bring  dogs  to  fight  there.  When  I  was  chief 
justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  (I  did  like  that  court!)  a  cause  was 
brought  before  me  for  the  recovery  of  a  dog  which  the  defendant 
had  stolen  in  that  ground,  and  detained  from  the  plaintiff,  its  owner. 
We  had  a  great  deal  of  evidence,  and  the  dog  was  brought  into  court, 
and  placed  on  the  table  between  the  judge  and  witnesses.  It  was  a 
very  fine  dog,  very  large,  and  very  fierce,  so  much  so,  that  I  ordered 
a  muzzle  to  be  put  on  it.  Well,  we  could  come  to  no  decision ;  when 
a  woman,  all  in  rags,  came  forward,  and  said  if  I  would  allow  her  to 
get  into  the  witness-box,  she  thought  she  could  say  something  that 
would  decide  the  cause.  Well,  she  was  sworn  just  as  she  was,  all  in 
rags,  and  leant  forward  towards  the  animal,  and  said,  '  Come,  Billy, 
come  and  kiss  me.'  The  savage-looking  dog  instantly  raised  itself 
on  its  hind  legs,  put  its  immense  paws  around  her  neck,  and  saluted 
her:  she  had  brought  it  up  from  a  puppy.  Those  words,  'Come, 
Billy,  come  and  kiss  me,'  decided  the  cause.  But  when  I  was  sum- 
ming up,  the  defendant  incautiously  said  in  my  hearing, '  the  damages 
cannot  be  great,  and  them  I  will  pay ;  but  the  dog  I  am  determined 
they  shall  not  have.'  I  observed  upon  this  to  the  jury,  and  told  them, 
that  if  they  were  satisfied  the  dog  belonged  to  the  plaintiff,  they  might 
give  any  amount  of  damages  they  pleased,  after  what  they  had  heard 
from  the  defendant.  Upon  this  the  defendant  got  frightened,  and 
consented  to  give  up  the  dog." 

Mrs.  Forster. — "Then  what  was  the  verdict,  uncle?" 

Lord  Eldon.—11  Oh,  that  threat  intimidated  him,  and  he  gave  up 

VOL.  I. — 13 


194  LIFE  OF  LORD 

the  dog;  the  verdict  was  two  hundred  pounds,  to  be  levied  should 
he  again  become  possessed  of  the  animal." 

"  I  recollect,"  says  Lord  Eldon,  in  his  Anecdote  Book,  "  a  great 
many  actions  brought  at  a  particular  period  against  clergymen — many 
of  them  very  exemplary  in  their  conduct  and  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties  as  parish  priests,  but  who,  though  resident  within  their  cures, 
yet  did  not  reside  in  the  parsonage  houses.  This  evil  of  prosecuting 
such  clergymen  was  remedied,  as  to  many  depending  actions,  by  act 
of  Parliament,  which  made  provision  also  as  to  the  future,  by  giving 
the  bishop  a  power  to  allow  incumbents  to  reside,  in  proper  cases, 
out  of  the  parsonage  houses.  Where  the  parsonage  houses  were  good, 
it  was  fit  the  clergymen  should  reside  in  them ;  but  the  law  was  very 
harsh  where  it  was  applied  to  clergymen  who  did  not  reside  in  houses, 
which,  with  their  families,  they  could  not  reside  in,  but  who,  never- 
theless, discharged  all  their  clerical  duties  in  a  most  exemplary  man- 
ner. During  the  short  time  in  which  I  was  chief  justice  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas,  I  tried  two  cases  at  Guildhall :  one,  an  action  against  a 
clergyman,  who,  after  reading  himself  in  as  incumbent  of  a  church 
in  the  city,  had  never  been  in  his  church  or  his  parish  for  many  years ; 
the  other,  an  action  against  the  incumbent  of  Bow  Church,  whose 
parsonage  house  could  not  be  dwelt  in  by  him  and  his  family,  it 
being  a  small  house  next  the  church,  in  which  the  business  of  a  very 
small  pocket-book  seller  was  carried  on ;  which  incumbent  was  one 
of  the  most  exemplary  clergymen  in  London,  performing  personally 
every  parochial  duty  in  every  day  of  the  week.  But,  as  the  law  stood, 
this  excellent  person  was  subject  to  the  same  penalties  as  the  other 
most  negligent,  blameable  incumbent.  The  valuable  incumbent  was 
Van  Mildert,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Llandaffand  Dean  of  St.  Paul's," 
and  finally  Bishop  of  Durham. 

In  relating  this  story  to  Mrs.  Forster,  Lord  Eldon  said : 

"  Now  I  have  pleasure  in  telling  this  anecdote,  for  it  reflects  credit 
on  the  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Moore,  that  the  moment  he 
heard  of  it,  he  sent  and  paid  the  penalties  and  costs ;  and  I  like 
also  to  tell  it,  because  it  has  sometimes  been  imperfectly  told  from 
motives  of  maliciousness  to  a  most  honourable,  upright  man,  Van 
Mildert." 

The  following  case,  recorded  in  Lord  Eldon's  Anecdote  Book,  is 
still  harder  on  the  clergyman : — 

L  C    T  1  • 

1  remember  a  case  in  the  Exchequer, — upon  a  motion  for  a  new 
trial,  I  think.  A  clergyman,  with  a  small  or  no  family,  lived  in  a 
large  roomy  parsonage  house.  An  attorney  in  the  parish,  who  had  a 
large  family,  lived  in  a  house  so  small  as  to  be  inconvenient  for  that 
family.  The  attorney  proposed  to  the  clergyman  to  change  houses, 
and  the  attorney  to  pay  the  clergyman  a  yearly  rent  of  several  pounds 
in  consideration  of  his  residence  in  the  larger  and  more  valuable 
house.  The  year  expired,  and  the  attorney  not  offering  to  pay  the 
rent,  the  clergyman  applied  to  him  for  it :  upon  which  the  attorney 
insisted  that  this  was  a  most  unreasonable  demand,  as  he  had  brought 
an  action  against  the  clergyman  for  eleven  penalties,  I  think,  of  ten 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  195 

pounds  each,  for  non-residence  in  the  parsonage  house,  the  law  then 
not  deeming  a  clergyman's  residence,  though  in  the  parish,  legal 
residence,  if  he  did  not  lire  in  the  parsonage  house.  I  remember 
Baron  Eyre  said  it  was  the  most  abominable  and  impudent  transac- 
tion he  ever  remembered,  but  that  the  clergyman  could  have  no 
relief." 

The  eighteenth  Parliament  from  the  union  with  Scotland,  held  its 
last  separate  session  at  the  close  of  the  year  1800,  and  passed  another 
bill  for  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act.  Lord  Eldon,  as 
in  the  preceding  year,  supported  this  measure.* 

A  letter  on  the  subject  of  state  prosecutions,  addressed  to  Lord 
Kenyon  in  the  early  part  of  1801,  by  Sir  John  Mitford,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Lord  Eldon  as  attorney-general,  illustrates  the  principles  upon 
which  Lord  Eldon,  when  attorney-general,  directed  his  own  conduct 
in  this  important  class  of  cases,  and  which  he  transmitted  to  his  suc- 
cessors in  the  law  offices  of  the  crown. 

(Sir  John  Milford,  attorney-general,  to  Lord  Cldef  Justice  Kenyan.} — (Extract.) 

"  Lincoln's  Inn,  5th  Feb.  1801. 

• 

"The  newspapers  which  your  lordship  has  sent  me  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  show- 
ing to  the  solicitor-general.  In  these  cases  I  have  generally  followed  the  rule  which 
Lord  Eldon  adopted  for  his  conduct, — to  notice,  as  much  as  possible,  those  cases  only 
which  did  not  personally  involve  his  majesty's  ministers;  conceiving  that  there  was 
a  much  greater  chance  of  success  in  prosecuting  for  libels  aimed  personally  at  his 
majesty,  or  against  the  constitution  in  church  or  state,  than  where  ministers  were 
directly  the  objects  of  the  libel.  The  many  cases,  in  which  juries  have  shown  an 
indisposition  to  notice  personal  attacks  on  ministers,  have  induced  Lord  Eldon  and 
me  to  think  that  this  forbearance  was,  on  the  whole,  prudent.  We  have  had,  during 
the  last  seven  years,  many  a  painful  moment  in  the  consideration  of  these  subjects; 
many  more,  not  only  than  the  world  will  give  us  credit  for,  but  than  even  your  lord- 
ship can,  from  any  view  of  the  cases  which  have  come  under  your  eye,  conceive. 
I  think  the  press,  on  the  whole,  is  become  more  decent;  and  I  flatter  myself  that  the 
very  temperate  exercise  of  the  office  of  attorney-general,  whilst  Lord  Eldon  held  it, 
and  since  it  has  been  in  one  who  has  carefully  followed  his  steps,  has  had  an  effect 
in  producing  a  general  persuasion  that  the  powers  of  that  officer  have  never  been  used, 
but  where  the  case  manifestly  demanded  that  they  should  be  put  in  force. 

"I  have  ventured  to  trouble  your  lordship  so  long  on  this  subject,  and  to  throw  my 
sentiments  so  openly  before  you,  because  every  man  must  feel  that  many,  many  very 
abominable  libels  have  passed  without  animadversion. 
"I  have  the  honour  to  be,  my  lord, 

"Your  lordship's  very  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"J.    MlTFOnD." 

The  session  of  the  imperial  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
was  opened  on  the  2d  of  February  by  the  king  in  person ;  and  on  that 
day,  an  amendment  having  been  moved  in  the  House  of  Lords,  to  the 
address  which  was  proposed  in  answer  to  his  majesty's  speech, 

Lord  Eldon  spoke  in  favour  of  the  address.  The  principal  topic  of  his  speech  was 
the  right  of  belligerents  to  search  the  vessels  of  neutrals, — a  right  which,  though  then 
disputed  by  the  northern  states  of  Europe,  had  its  origin  in  the  law  of  nature  and 
was  interwoven  with  the  very  principle  of  self-defence.  He  insisted  on  the  import- 
ance of  maintaining  that  right,  as  the  foundation  of  our  commerce,  our  wealth,  and 
our  naval  glory. 

From  the  commencement  of  his  chief  justiceship  until  the  spring  of 
1801,  Lord  Eldon  had  had  no  other  connection  with  politics  than  as 

*  Pad.  Hist.  1900,  Dec.  19. 


196  LIFE  OF  LORD 

an  individual  member  of  the  House  of  Peers.  But  he  was  now  to 
renew  his  relations  with  political  life  in  a  higher  and  more  responsible 
station  than  ever. 

Among  all  the  measures  of  Mr.  Pitt's  administration,  none  was 
more  important  than  the  union  with  Ireland.  It  had  been  attended 
with  innumerable  difficulties,  arising  from  personal  interests  as  well 
as  from  national  feelings ;  but  a  great  body  of  the  Irish  people  had 
been  reconciled  to  it,  by  the  expectation  that  a  union  between  their 
country  and  Great  Britain  wrould  render  it  practicable,  consistently 
with  the  safety  of  the  Protestant  church  in  Ireland,  to  remove  the 
disabilities  of  the  Roman  Catholics.  So  long  as  the  twro  kingdoms 
had  distinct  legislatures,  it  was  obvious  that  to  open  Parliament  and 
office  to  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Ireland,  where  they  wrere  three- 
fourths  of  the  constituent  body,  must  be  to  make  the  Irish  legislature 
essentially  Roman  Catholic,  and  eventually  to  substitute  the  Romish 
for  the  Protestant  church ;  and  for  such  a  consummation,  no  British 
statesman  was  prepared.  But  it  was  thought  that  when  one  common 
legislature  should  have  been  established  for  both  countries,  and  the 
Irish  nation  have  become  interfused  and  identified  with  the  British, 
a  new  state  of  things  would  arise,  in  which  the  aggregate  majority  of 
the  whole  empire,  being  Protestant,  would  be  able  effectually  to  pro- 
tect the  church  and  the  state  against  any  undue  encroachments  of  the 
total  Roman  Catholic  minority ;  and  that,  in  such  a  position  of  affairs, 
the  laws  of  exclusion,  always  invidious,  and  only  to  be  justified  by 
necessity,  might  safely  be  exchanged  for  a  more  generous  and  com- 
prehensive policy.  These  were  the  opinions  of  Mr.  Pitt,  Mr.  Wind- 
ham,  Lord  Grenville,  and  some  of  the  ablest  among  their  younger 
partisans ;  and  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland  clung  closely  to  the 
hope  which  such  authority  held  out.  But  the  king,  who  regarded 
the  proposed  change  as  likely  to  injure  the  Protestant  church,  and  as 
therefore  irreconcilable  with  his  coronation  oath,  met  all  the  instances 
of  Mr.  Pitt  with  a  fixed  resistance.  It  was  in  vain  that  Mr.  Pitt  sug- 
gested the  introduction  of  securities.  The  king  was  inflexible.  The 
correspondence  of  George  III.  with  Mr.  Pitt  on  that  occasion,  pub- 
lished in  1827,  by  Dr.  Philpotts,  now  Bishop  of  Exeter,  from  Lord 
Kenyon's  papers,  distinctly  and  curiously  explains  the  respective 
views  of  the  king  and  of  the  minister. 

"  I  had  very  considerable  doubt,"  says  Lord  Eldon,  in  his  Anec- 
dote Book,  "  whether  the  correspondence  between  King  George  III. 
and  Mr.  Pitt,  relative  to  the  Catholic  question,  before  Mr.  Pitt  quitted 
office,  should  have  been  published  by  Dr.  P.,  at  the  instance  or  with 
the  consent  of  Lord  Kenyon,  in  1827,  from  copies  of  it,  which  I  un- 
derstood that  his  father,  the  chief  justice,  had  received  from  the  late 
king;  and  I  discouraged  the  intention  to  publish  it,  because  of  that 
doubt.  As,  however,  others  thought  it  right  that  it  should  be  pub- 
lished, I  think  it  was,  with  respect  to  myself,  so  far  useful,  as  the 
matter  of  that  correspondence  seems  to  me  to  have  fully  justified 
what  I  had  so  often  publicly  declared,  that  Mr.  Pitt  did  not  mean  to 
grant  what  the  Roman  Catholics  wished  to  obtain,  without  what  he 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  197 

should  deem  sufficient  securities  for  the  Protestants.  I  had  repeatedly 
publicly  stated,  that  his  language  to  me  was,  that  if  their  claims  were 
granted,  there  must  be  such  securities,  but  that  I  never  could  learn 
what  were  to  be  proposed  as  such  securities.  The  published  corre- 
spondence has  stated  what  are  therein  mentioned  as  such  securities. 
They  appear  to  me,  though  mentioned  by  that  great  man,  as  altoge- 
ther inadequate.  Another  proof  that  the  concessions  were  never  to 
be  made  without  sufficient  securities,  is,  that,  in  all  the  bills,  which, 
during  many  years,  were  brought  into  Parliament  for  granting  the 
Roman  Catholics'  claims,  provisions  were  proposed  to  be  enacted  as 
such  securities :  totally  inadequate  as  securities;  but  the  proposal  to 
enact  them  is  satisfactorily  to  prove,  that  securities  were  thought  neces- 
sary:— at  first  %so  thought — long  after,  and  for  many  years  so  thought 
— and  it  seems  never  to  have  been  contended  that  securities  were  not 
necessary,  till  it  was  proved  that  none  would  be  sufficient ;  and  then 
the  advocates  for  the  measure  had  the  hardihood  to  propose  it,  with- 
out any  securities,  as  reasonable.  It  is  not  immaterial,  or  without  its 
being  useful,  to  compare  the  securities  proposed  in  Mr.  Pitt's  corre- 
spondence with  those  proposed  in  the  various  bills:  and  such  compa- 
rison may  satisfy  many  that  the  advocates  of  the  measure  never  agreed 
what  would  or  would  not  be  satisfactory  securities." 

The  immovable  determination  of  the  king  made  it  necessary,  in  the 
judgment  of  Mr.  Pitt,  to  entreat  that  his  majesty  would  permit  him  to 
withdraw  from  the  government.  The  king,  in  a  letter  of  the  1st  of 
February,  1801,  one  of  those  published  by  Dr.  Philpotts,  remonstrates 
against  such  a  retirement. 

"Though  I  do  not  pretend,"  says  the  king,  "to  have  the  power  of  changing  Mr. 
Pitt's  opinion,  when  thus  unfortunately  fixed,  yet  I  shall  hope  his  sense  of  duty  will 
prevent  his  retiring  from  his  present  situation,  to  the  end  of  my  life;  for  I  can  with 
great  truth  assert,  that  I  shall,  from  public  and  private  considerations, feel  great  regret, 
if  I  shall  ever  find  myself  obliged,  at  any  time,  from  a  sense  of  religious  and  political 
duty,  to  yield  to  his  entreaties  of  retiring  from  his  seat  at  the  board  of  treasury." 

Mr.  Pitt,  however,  thought  it  due  to  his  country  and  his  character, 
that  he  should  persevere  in  pressing  his  resignation  ;  and,  on  the  10th 
of  March,  it  was  announced  in  both  Houses  that  his  ministry  was  at 
an  end. 

Such  was  the  first  great  stir  of  that  momentous  contest  which  now, 
for  more  than  forty  years,  in  one  or  other  of  its  forms,  or  of  its  conse- 
quences has  divided  and  disturbed  the  British  empire. 

To  no  one  individual,  so  eminently  as  to  Lord  Eldon,  was  owing 
the  long  and  successful  resistance  maintained  against  the  Roman 
Catholic  claims.  In  his  deliberate  and  solemn  judgment,  the  conces- 
sion of  them  was  fraught  with  danger  to  the  state  and  to  the  church. 
In  the  no  less  conscientious  belief  of  other  far-sighted  statesmen,  the 
only  danger  was  in  the  postponement  of  that  concession.  The  mea- 
sure of  relief,  the  emancipation,  has  undoubtedly  disappointed  the 
hopes  of  its  advocates,  and  furnished,  in  the  "  still  vex't"  condition 
of  the  Irish,  a  melancholy  triumph  to  its  opponents.  But  those  who 
reason  from  the  event  seem  not  to  have  sufficiently  remembered,  that 


198  LIFE  OF  LORD 

the  very  point  most  enforced  by  the  advocates  of  the  relief,  was  the 
peril  of  a  concession  that  might  come  too  late.  Evils  have  undoubtedly 
followed,  to  the  full  extent  of  the  gravest  apprehension;  but  while 
one  party  asserts  them  to  have  resulted  from  precipitate  surrender,  the 
other  regards  them  as  the  consequences  of  over-protracted  resistance. 
And  it  must  not  be  forgotten  by  those  who  appeal  to  events,  that  the 
conceded  franchises  were  calculated  for  the  old  parliamentary  state 
of  these  kingdoms  as  they  still  remained  in  1829,  and  not  for  the  new 
and  unexpected  constitution  imposed  by  the  Reform  Act  of  1832.  If, 
instead  of  being  accepted  as  peace-offerings,  those  franchises  have 
been  grasped  as  weapons  of  annoyance,  an  effect  so  perverse  may, 
perhaps,  be  explained  by  the  undue  parliamentary  importance  which 
the  near  balance  of  the  conservative  and  democratic  forces  in  the 
newly-modeled  House  of  Commons,  and  the  resulting  weakness  of 
the  executive  government,  enabled  a  small  body  of  Roman  Catholics 
to  assume.  And  thus,  perhaps,  in  calmer  times,  the  judgment  of  the 
country  will  pronounce  that  not  the  Relief  Act,  butthe  Reform  Act,  has 
been  the  real  inlet  of  danger  to  the  Protestant  church,  and  the  legis- 
lative union  of  these  realms.  To  both  these  experiments  Lord  Eldon 
was  alike  opposed. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  199 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
1801. 

Lord  Loughborough's  resignation  of  the  great  seal. — Anecdotes  of  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tices De  Grey  and  Willes. — Letter  of  Lord  Thurlow  to  Lord  Eldon. — Lord  Eldon 
receives  the  great  seal. — The  king's  behaviour,  and  Lord  Eldon's  motives  for 
relinquishing  the  Common  Pleas. — Relinquishment  delayed  by  the  king's  illness. — 
Composition  of  Mr.  Addington's  ministry. — Letter  of  the  lord  chancellor  to  Mr. 
Swire. — Letters  of  the  king  to  the  lord  chancellor,  and  of  the  lord  chancellor  to  the 
king. — The  king's  malady:  Letters  of  Drs.  John  and  Thomas  Willis,  the  chancellor, 
the  Princess  Elizabeth  and  the  king. — The  chancellor's  speeches  on  a  divorce  bill, 
on  Habeas  Corpus  Indemnity  Bill,  and  on  Holy  Orders  Bill. — The  king's  visit  to 
CufTnells:  letter  from  Mr.  Rose. — Patronage:  letters  of  Lord  Eldon  to  Mr.  Reay 
and  Mr.  Jones,  and  of  Lord  Nelson  to  Lord  Eldon. — National  defence :  letter  from 
Mr.  Windham. — Preliminaries  of  peace  with  France. 

IT  had  been  understood,  for  several  weeks  before  the  announcement 
of  Mr.  Pitt's  resignation,  that  Lord  Loughborough  was  about  to  relin- 
quish the  great  seal,  and  that  Lord  Eldon  was  likely  to  become  chan- 
cellor in  his  stead.  The  letter,  of  which  a  copy  follows,  appears  to 
be  an  answer  to  some  message  or  inquiry  on  this  subject,  from  his 
old  friend  Lord  Kenyon,  then  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England. 

Endorsed  "  14ih  February,  1S01.    Common  Pleas. 
"Dear  Lord  Kenyon, 

"I  Teel  a  good  deal  of  uneasiness  to  protect  myself  against  the  possibility  of  your 
lordship's  thinking  that  I  am  wanting  in  the  respect  and  duty  which  I  owe  to  you,  and 
which  I  can  truly  say  has  ever  been  accompanied  with  the  most  grateful  and  affec- 
tionate regard.  May  I  therefore  be  allowed  to  assure  you  that,  whatever  other  per- 
sons may  have  thought  it  becoming  to  mention  in  conversation  respecting  themselves 
or  me,  nothing  has  passed  yet  with  respect  to  me,  that  would  warrant  me,  consistently 
with  propriety,  in  making  that  communication  to  you,  which  it  would  be  my  duty  to 
make,  as  I  wish  to  make  it  to  you,  whenever  the  matter  is  settled  the  one  way  or  the 
other.  I  can  say  no  more  than  that  there  is  a  probability  that  I  may  be  compelled  to 
quit  this  little  court,  in  which  I  should  have  wished  to  end  my  days. 

"  Your  obliged  and  faithful  friend  and  servant, 

u  ELDON." 

There  was  nothing  unreasonable  in  this  caution.  Strange  instances 
had  occurred  of  disappointments,  where  the  expectant  had  appeared 
quite  secure  of  his  judicial  promotion  ;  and  these  were  probably 
present  to  the  mind  of  Lord  Eldon;  for,  among  the  stories  in  his 
Anecdote  Book,  he  has  recorded  Ihe  following  illustration  of  the 
uncertainties  that  hover  between  the  cup  and  the  lip  of  the  candidate 
for  the  seals : — 

"  Lord  Walsingham,  the  son  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  de  Grey,  and 
chairman  of  the  committees  of  the  House  of  Lords,  told  me,  that  his 
father,  the  chief  justice,  gave  a  dinner  to  his  family  and  friends,  on 


200  LIFE  OF  LORD 

account  of  his  being  to  have  the  great  seal  as  chancellor  next  morning  ; 
but  that,  in  the  interim  between  the  dinner  and  the  next  morning, 
Mr.  Justice  Bathurst,  it  was  determined,  should  be  chancellor,  and 
received  the  seal." 

Lord  Eldon  used  to  tell  a  somewhat  similar  story  of  the  offer  of  the 
great  seal  to  Lord  Chief  Justice  Willes,  who  declined  to  accept  it 
without  a  pension  and  a  peerage,  expecting  that  he  should  bring  the 
ministers  to  his  terms.* 

Lord  Eldon,  before  his  appointment  to  the  chancellorship  was 
complete,  received  the  following  letter  from  his  early  friend,  Lord 
Thurlow  :  — 

"  My  dear  Lord, 

"Though  I  don't  know  the  circumstances  which  induced  you  to  give  up  the  Com- 
mon Pleas,  I  have  no  doubt  your  decision  upon  them  was  guided,  as  upon  all  occa- 
sions, by  wisdom  and  honour;  and  I  rejoice  sincerely  in  the  event.  This,  you  may 
remember,  was  my  sentiment  in  the  conversation  you  allude  to.f 

"But  I  congratulate  still  more  with  the  House  and  the  country.  Their  judgments 
•will  be  no  less  illustrated  by  sound  principles  and  clear  deductions  than  supported 
by  authority;  not  let  down  by  unsatisfactory  attempts  to  argue,  or  shaded  by  sur- 
mises of  mean  partialities  and  prejudices. 

"If  I  can  shake  off  this  painful  disorder,  my  first  exertion  will  be  an  endeavour  to 
see  you.  There  is  not  enough  remaining  of  me  to  be  useful  ;  but  I  shall  take  great 
satisfaction  in  finding  arranged  the  fundamental  principles  of  that  conduct,  which  is 
to  extricate  the  present  difficulties  incurred  by  the  mere  want  of  suchTprinciples. 

"This  is  the  second  time,  since  I  came  to  London,  that  a  fox  has  scrambled  out  of 
the  well  upon  the  horns  of  the  same  silly  goat.  In  the  Seven  Years'  War,  it  stood 
leaping-block  to  Frederick  of  Prussia;  in  this,  to  Francis  of  Austria.*  Quousque 
tandem  ? 

"I  am  ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"Your  very  faithful  and  affectionate  friend, 


"Wednesday,  18th  Feb.,  1801. 

On  the  23d  of  March,  1801,  Sir  William  Scott  was  elected  member 
for  the  University  of  Oxford,  in  the  room  of  Mr.  Page,  who  had 
relinquished  his  seat  from  age  and  increasing  infirmities. 

Mr.  Pitt  had  resigned  the  government  on  the  10th  of  the  same 
month  :  but  Lord  Loughborough  continued  to  hold  the  great  seal  till 
the  14th  of  April:  on  which  day,  (Mr.  Addington  having  meanwhile 
been  installed  as  first  minister,)  Lord  Eldon,  by  the  king's  delivery 
to  him  of  the  great  seal,  became  lord  high  chancellor.  He  one 
day  said  to  Mr.  Farrer,  "  I  was  the  king's  lord  chancellor,  not  the 

f  The  late  Lord  Henley,  in  his  life  of  his  grandfather,  Lord  Keeper  Henley,  after- 
wards Lord  Chancellor  Northington,  relates  the  circumstances  thus  :— 

"Immediately  after  Willes  had  refused  the  seals,  Henley,  (then  attorney-general,) 
called  upon  him  at  his  villa,  and  found  him  walking  in  his  garden,  highly  indignant 
at  the  affront  which  he  considered  that  he  had  received,  in  an  offer  so  inadequate  to 
his  pretensions.  After  entering  into  some  details  of  his  grievances,  he  concluded  by 
asking  whether  any  man  of  spirit  could,  under  such  circumstances,  have  taken  the 
seals;  adding,  '  Would  you,  Mr.  Attorney,  have  done  so  7'  Henley,  thus  appealed  to, 
gravely  told  him  that  it  was  too  late  to  enter  into  such  a  discussion,  as  he  was  then 
•waiting  upon  his  lordship  to  inform  him  that  he  had  actually  accepted  them."  —  pp. 

•>  I  •.     ')•). 

f  See  Chap.X. 

*  This  seems  to  allude  to  the  treaty  of  Luneville,  by  which  the  Emperor  Francis 
had  concluded  a  separate  peace  with  the  French  Republic,  and  which  bears  date  on 
the  9th  of  February,  1801,  only  nine  days  before  Lord  Thurlow's  note. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  201 

minister's.  When  I  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
the  king  insisted  upon  my  giving  him  my  promise,  that  whenever  he 
called  upon  me  to  fulfil  the  office  of  chancellor,  I  would  do  so.  He 
did  call  upon  me  when  Addington  succeeded  Pitt,  and  I  could  not 
do  otherwise  than  fulfil  my  promise." 

So  likewise  he  told  Mrs.  Forster,  "I  was  very  fond  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  and  never  would  have  quitted  it  for  the  chancellor- 
ship, but  my  promise  was  given." 

In  his  Anecdote  Book,  he  thus  expresses  himself  on  the  same 
point : — 

"  Upon  the  duty  of  a  subject  to  obey  the  commands  of  the  king  as 
to  accepting  office,  I  have  some  notions  that  I  believe  are  much  out 
of  fashion.  In  the  year  1801  I  became  chancellor,  upon  the  forma- 
tion of  Mr.  Addington's  administration.  I  have  mentioned  the  fact 
as  to  my  undertaking  to  his  majesty,  in  1799,  with  respect  to  the 
chancellorship,*  that  it  may  be  known  to  my  family,  that  I  was  in- 
debted for  that  office  to  the  king  himself,  and  not,  as  some  supposed, 
to  Mr.  Addington,  and  as  some  of  Mr.  Addington's  friends  supposed; 
although  it  is  but  justice  to  him  to  add,  that  he  so  conducted  him- 
self, in  forming  his  administration,  with  respect  to  me,  that  my  feel- 
ings towards  him  were  the  same  as  if  he  had  been  the  instrument  by 
whom  the  king  was  prevailed  upon  to  promote  me  to  the  office." 

More  than  thirty  years  afterwards,  he  said  to  Mrs.  Forster, 

"  I  do  not  know  what  made  George  III.  so  fond  of  me  ;  but  he  was 
fond  of  me.  Did  I  ever  tell  you  the  manner  in  which  he  gave  me 
the  seals?  When  I  went  to  him,  he  had  his  coat  buttoned  thus,  (one 
or  two  buttons  fastened  at  the  lower  part,)  and  putting  his  right  hand 
within,  he  drew  them  out  from  the  left  side,  saying,  'I  give  them  to 
you  from  my  heart.'' ' 

It  seems  probable  that  the  unusual  demonstration  with  wrhich  the 
king  accompanied  the  transfer  of  the  great  seal  to  Lord  Eldon,  may 
have  been  partly  occasioned  by  the  then  unsettled  state  of  the  royal 
mind  :  for  his  majesty  immediately  afterwards  became  so  seriously 
indisposed,  as  to  be  altogether  incompetent  to  his  public  duties. 
This  incapacity  having  become  manifest  before  Lord  Eldon  had 
actually  vacated  the  chief  justiceship  of  the  Common  Pleas,  his 
resignation  of  that  office  was,  for  some  time,  suspended.  The  sus- 
pension is  thus  explained  by  him  in  his  Anecdote  Book :  — 

"His  majesty  not  being  able  to  hold^a  council,  and  his  recovery 
being  doubtful,  it  was  riot  judged  fit  the  chief  justiceship  of  the 
Common  Pleas  should  be  resigned,  the  offices  of  chancellor  and 
chief  justice  being,  by  law,  capable  of  being  held  together,  and  in 
case  his  majesty  did  not  recover,  it  being  thought  certain  that  the 
great  seal  would  be  taken  from  my  custody,  and  that  I  should  not 
be  restored  to  the  chief  justiceship  if  I  had  resigned  it.  During  all 
the  period,  therefore,  in  which  his  majesty's  indisposition  continued, 
I  remained  in  the  very  singular  situation  of  a  person  both  lord  chan- 

•  See  Chap.  XV. 


202  LIFE  OF  LORD 

cellor  and  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  exercising  pub- 
licly the  duties  of  both  offices." 

Lord  Hardwicke,  in  like  manner,  had  continued,  for  several  months 
after  he  received  the  great  seal,  to  hold  with  it  the  office  of  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench.*  And  so,  in  our  own  time,  when 
the  Melbourne  administration  was  displaced  by  King  William  the 
Fourth,  and  a  provisional  government  appointed  for  transacting  the 
public  business,  from  the  beginning  of  November  1834  until  Sir  Robert 
Peel  should  return  from  the  continent  to  arrange  the  final  distribution 
of  the  offices  of  state,  Lord  Lyndhurst,  then  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the 
Exchequer,  was  entrusted  with  the  great  seal,  and  continued  to  hold 
it  conjointly  with  the  Exchequer,  until,  on  Sir  Robert  Peel's  arrival, 
he  was  confirmed  as  lord  chancellor,  when  he  vacated  the  chief 
barony. 

The  principal  colleagues  of  Lord  Eldon,  during  the  administra- 
tion of  which  he  had  now  become  a  leading  member,  were  Mr.  Ad- 
dington,  first  lord  of  the  treasury, — the  Duke  of  Portland,  president 
of  the  council, — the  Earl  of  Westmoreland,  lord  privy  seal, — the 
Earl  St.  Vincent,  first  lord  of  the  admiralty, — the  Earl  of  Chat- 
ham, master-general  of  the  ordinance, — Lord  Hawkesbury,  afterwards 
Earl  of  Liverpool,  secretary  for  foreign  affairs, — the  Lords  Pelham 
and  Hobart,  secretaries  for  the  home  and  colonial  departments, — 
and  Mr.  Yorke,  secretary  at  war,  who  subsequently  became  home 
secretary  in  the  room  of  Lord  Pelham.  Lord  Castlereagh,  who,  at 
the  accession  of  his  ministry,  held  the  office  of  chief  secretary  for 
Ireland,  soon  afterwards  entered  the  cabinet  as  president  of  the  board 
of  control. 

The  official  announcement,  in  the  Gazette,  of  Lord  Eldon's  eleva- 
tion to  the  seals,  wras  received  by  his  fellow-townsmen  at  Newcastle 
with  general  rejoicings.  The  bells  of  the  churches  in  that  town,  and 
in  Gateshead,  continued  ringing  from  the  arrival  of  the  mail  till  late 
in  the  evening,  and  numerous  parties  of  the  chancellor's  relatives  and 
friends  were  formed  in  various  parts  of  the  neighbourhood  to  cele- 
brate the  event,  f 

^  The  franked  address  of  the  following  letter  to  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Swire,  formerly  of  University  College,  bears  date  on  the  day  next 
following  Lord  Eldon's  accession  to  his  new  dignity. 

"London,  April  15th,  1801. 

Eldon.  Rev.  S.  Swire, 

Rector  of  Melsonby, 

Richmond, 

Yorkshire. 
•  My  dear  Swire, 

"Yesterday,  and  not  before  yesterday,  I  received  the  great  seal.  Though  very, 
very  sensible  of  your  kindness  to  me,  I  thought  it  premature  sooner  to  answer  your 
etter.  Whether  this  be  for  good,  is  in  the  counsels  of  Providence.  I  state  myself 
with  a  seriousness  so  real,  and  with  feelings  which  form  such  a  weight  upon  my 
mind,  that  I  trust  at  least  I  am  prepared  for  a  conscientious  and  most  anxious  dis- 
charge of  my  duty,  whether  it  shall  please  God  that  I  am  called  upon  to  discharge  it 

*  1  Burr.  Sess.  Ca.  105. 

f  Sykes's  Local  Records,  (Newcastle,  1833,)  vol.  ii.  p.  6. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  203 

for  a  longer  or  a  shorter  period.  I  hope  in  God  I  do  not  deceive  myself  when  I  con- 
fide in  the  review  of  my  past  life,  that  it  affords  nothing  to  tarnish  a  situation  which, 
though  the  highest  attainable  in  my  profession,  is  a  base  one  when  not  attained  by 
such  means  as  are  consistent  with  the  principles  of  honour,  morality  and  religion. 

"God  bless  you  ;  I  am  hurried  aud  nervous.  I  am  sure  you  will  find  me  in  this, 
and  in  every  situation  of  life, 

"Yours,  cordially  and  affectionately, 

"  ELDOJT. 

"  My  compliments  to  Miss  S.  and  Mrs.  H.  I  do  assure  the  latter  I  am  at  this  mo- 
ment as  grave  as  she  could  wish  me  lo  be." 

On  the  day  of  the  date  of  this  letter,  the  15th  of  April,  1801,  Lord 
Eldon  took  his  seat  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  held  the  first  gene- 
ral seal  before  Easter  term.  During  the  whole  of  that  term  he  still 
continued  to  discharge  the  duties  both  of  lord  chancellor  and  of 
Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas.  It  was  not  until  the 
Easter  vacation,  on  the  21st  of  May,  that  he  resigned  this  latter 
office.  He  was  succeeded  in  it  by  Sir  Richard  Pepper  Arden,  who 
was  thereupon  raised  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of  Lord  Alvanley. 

The  chancellor  had  held  the  seals  but  a  day  or  two  before  he  glad- 
dened the  heart  of  his  old  preceptor,  Mr.  Moises,  by  appointing  him 
to  be  one  of  his  chaplains. 

One  of  the  first  letters  received  by  Lord  Eldon  from  the  king 
evinces  the  kind  feeling  which  his  majesty  bore  to  him: — 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"Kew,  April  29th,  1801.    —  past  One,  r.  M. 

"On  returning  from  walking,  the  king  has  found  his  lord  chancellor's  letter,  and 
desires  the  commission,  for  passing  the  bills  now  ready  for  his  assent,  may,  if  pos- 
sible, be  sent  this  evening  to  the  Duke  of  Portland's  office,  from  whence  it  will  be 
forwarded  early  to-morrow  morning.  His  majesty  is  pleased  at  finding  the  bill 
against  seditious  meetings  got  through  the  House  of  Lords  yesterday  with  so  little 
trouble.  The  king  would  by  no  means  have  wished  that  his  lord  chancellor  should 
have  omitted  sitting  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  to-morrow,  for  the  mere  matter  of  form 
of  bringing  himself  the  commission,  as  his  majesty  is  so  fully  convinced  of  the  satis- 
faction the  suitors  must  feel  at  that  court  being  presided  by  a  person  of  real  integrity, 
talents,  legal  knowledge  and  good  temper.  He  cannot  but  add  having  felt  some  plea- 
sure at  hearing  that  the  lord  chancellor  sat  the  other  clay  on  the  woolsack  between 
Rosslyn*  and  Thurlow,  who  ever  used  to  require  an  intermediate  power  to  keep  them 
from  quarreling.  How  soon  will  the  shins  of  Pepper  permit  him  to  take  the  coif? 

"  GEOHGE  R." 

George  III.,  in  the  course  of  this  spring,  gave  a  fresh  proof  of  his 
personal  esteem  for  Lord  Eldon,  by  appointing  him  one  of  the  trustees 
of  certain  property  belonging  to  his  majesty.  This  honour  was  thus 
acknowledged : — 

(Lord  Eldon  to  King  George  III.) 

"May  5th,  1801.    9A.M. 

"  The  lord  chancellor,  tendering  to  your  majesty  his  most  humble  duty,  offers,  also, 
Lord  Kenyon's,  Sir  John  Mitford's  and  his  own  most  grateful  acknowledgments,  for 
the  testimony  of  regard,  which  they  learn,  from  the  communication  transmitted 
through  Mr.  Strong,  it  is  your  majesty's  gracious  purpose  to  bestow,  by  appointing 
them  trustees  of  part  of  your  majesty's  property.  They  all  hope  that  your  majesty 
will  find,  in  a  conscientious  discharge  of  their  duty,  as  such,  a  proof  of  their  earnest 
anxiety  to  manifest  their  gratitude. 

*  Lord  Loughborough  had  been  created  Earl  of  Rosslyn  a  few  days  before  the  date 
of  this  letter. 


204  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"  Your  majesty's  chancellor  presumes  to  add,  that,  highly  as  he  should  have  thought 
himself  honoured,  under  any  circumstances,  by  such  a  testimony  of  your  majesty's 
regard,  he  cannot  but  feel  particular  satisfaction  in  being  associated  in  this  trust 
with  persons  whose  advice  and  assistance  he  knows  to  be  highly  valuable:  with 
one,  from  whom,  in  the  course  of  his  professional  life,  he  has  received  marks  of 
kindness  almost  parental,  and  with  another,  with  whom  he  has  long  lived  in  habits  of 
brotherly  regard,  and  of  both  of  whom  he  can  most  truly  represent  to  your  majesty, 
that,  in  private  life,  as  well  as  in  public,  their  conduct  has  been  uniformly  and  strongly 
marked  by  a  dutiful,  anxious,  affectionate  and  loyal  attachment  to  your  majesty." 

It  was  about  this  time  that  a  conversation  occurred,  which,  in  the 
lately  published  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Wilberforce,  is  thus  recorded  from 
the  diary  kept  by  the  latter  :* — 

"Saw  Lord  Eldon,  and  had  a  long  talk  with  him  on  the  best  mode  of  study  and 
discipline,  for  the  young  Grants  to  be  lawyers.  The  chancellor's  reply  was  not 
encouraging:  '  I  know  no  rule  to  give  them,  but  that  they  must  make  up  their  minds 
to  live  like  a  hermit  and  work  like  a  horse.'  Eldon  had  just  received  the  great  seal, 
and  I  expressed  my  fears  that  they  were  bringing  the  king  into  public  too  soon  after 
his  late  indisposiiion.  'You  shall  judge  for  yourself/ he  answered, '  from  what  passed 
between  us  when  I  kissed  hands  on  my  appointment.  The  king  had  been  conversing 
with  me,  and  when  I  was  about  to  retire,  he  said, '  Give  my  remembrance  to  Lady 
Eldon.'  I  acknowledged  his  condescension,  and  intimated  that  I  was  ignorant  of 
Lady  Eldon's  claim  to  such  a  notice.  '  Yes,  yes,'  he  answered,  'I  knovv^iow  much 
I  owe  to  Lady  Eldon;  I  know  that  you  would  have  made  yourself  a  country  curate, 
and  that  she  has  made  you  my  lord  chancellor.'" 

The  king's  indisposition,  though  now  sufficiently  abated  to  leave 
him  competent  to  his  ordinary  functions,  was  not  so  effectually  re- 
moved but  that,  in  a  short  time  afterwards,  it  became  the  subject  of 
renewed  anxiety  to  the  ministers.  Among  the  principal  causes  of  his 
excitement  were  the  distressing  differences  in  progress  between  the 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales,  which  then  related  chiefly  to  the  cus- 
tody and  education  of  their  daughter,  the  Princess  Charlotte.  The 
following  letters  and  extracts  of  letters  to  the  chancellor  have  some 
interest,  as  showing,  authentically  and  at  the  moment,  the  working  of 
the  king's  mind  and  the  embarrassments  occasioned  by  his  malady  to 
the  royal  family,  and  to  the  government. 

The  first  is  from  Dr.  John  Willis,  one  of  the  physicians  then  at- 
tendant on  his  majesty: — 

"  May  IGth.  1801. 
"  My  Lord, 

"  We  have  not  seen  the  king  better  than  this  morning.  Your  lordship's  conversa- 
tions with  his  majesty  have  not  hitherto  produced  all  the  effect  we  wish.  He  seems 
rather  to  select  and  turn  any  part  to  his  purpose  than  to  his  good.  The  council,  he 
tells  us,  you  propose  to  be  in  London.  Of  course,  we  wish  much  that  your  lordship 
should  see  the  king  again  soon — that  every  means  possible  should  be  used  to  recon- 
cile his  majesty  to  the  present  control.  For,  till  a  consciousness  of  the  necessity  of 
temperance  arises  in  his  own  mind,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  have  resort  to  arti- 
ficial prudence.  I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

"Your  lordship's 

"Obedient  humble  servant, 

"  J.  WILLIS." 
(Mr.  Addington  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"  Downing  Street,  21st  May,  1801. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  came  so  late  from  Kew,  and  was  so  hurried  afterwards  till  half  past  twelve, 
when  I  went  to  bed,  that  it  was  not  possible  for  me  yesterday  to  write  to  you,  as  I 

*  Life  of  Wilberforce,  vol.  iii.  p.  9. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  205 

wished  and  intended.  During  a.  quiet  conversation  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  there  was 
not  a  sentiment,  a  word,  a  look  or  a  gesture,  that  I  could  have  wished  different  from 
what  it  was;—  and  yet  my  apprehensions,  I  must  own  to  you,  predominate.  The 
wheel  is  likely  to  turn  with  an  increasing  velocity,  (as  I  cannot  help  fearing,)  and  if 
so,  it  will  very  soon  become  unmanageable.  God  grant  that  I  may  be  mistaken  I  _ 
We  have,  however,  done  our  best.  The  council,  as  your  lordship  has  probably  been 
apprised  by  Mr.  Fawkener,  is  to  be  held  at  the  queen's  house  at  one. 

"  Ever  sincerely  yours, 


The  next  letter  isjfrom  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Willis,  a  clergyman  of 
the  same  family  with  the  physicians  of  that  name  :  — 

"  Kew  House,  May  23th.  1S01. 
"  My  Lord, 

"Dr.  John  (Willis)  is  riding  with  the  king,  but  we  conferred  together  before  he  set 
out,  and  he  desired  that  I  would  write  the  letter,  which  your  lordship  had  requested 
to  have  this  morning. 

"The  general  impression  yesterday,  from  the  king's  composure  and  quietness,  was 
that  he  was  very  well.  There  was  an  exception  to  this  in  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  who 
dined  here.  '  He  pitied  the  family,  for  he  saw  something  in  the  king  that  convinced 
him  that  he  must  soon  be  confined  again.' 

"  This  morning  I  walked  with  his  majesty,  who  was  in  a  perfectly  composed  and 
quiet  state.  He  told  me,  with  great  seeming  satisfaction,  that  he  "had  had  a  most 
charming  night,  'but  one  sleep  from  eleven  to  half  after  four;'  when,  alas  !  he  had 
but  three  hours'  sleep  in  the  night,  which,  upon  the  whole,  was  passed  in  restlessness, 
in  getting  out  of  bed,  opening  the  shutters,  in  praying  at  times  violently,  and  in  mak- 
ing such  remarks  as  betray  a  consciousness  in  him  of  his  own  situation,  but  which 
are  evidently  made  for  the  purpose  of  concealing  it  from  the  queen.  He  frequently 
called  out,  '  I  am  now  perfectly  well,  and  my  queen,  my  queen  has  saved  me.'  Whilst 
I  state  these  particulars  to  your  lordship,  I  must  beg  to  remind  you  how  much  afraid 
the  queen  is  lest  he  should  be  committed  to  him;  for  the  king  has  sworn  he  will  never 
forgive  her  if  she  relates  any  thing  that  passes  in  the  night. 

"The  only  thing  that  he  has  repeated  of  your  lordship's  conversation  is,  that  you 
told  him  to  keep  himself  quiet.  He  certainly  intends  going  to  Windsor  to-morrow 
morning  early,  for  the  day.  Had  not  your  lordship,  therefore,  better  write  to  his 
majesty,  that  you  had  proposed,  agreeably  to  his  permission,  to  have  paid  your  duty 
to  him  to-morrow,  but  that  you  understand  he  is  going  to  Windsor,  —  where  you  may 
endeavour  to  fix  your  audience  for  Wednesday  7 

"  It  is  too  evident,  my  lord,  that  it  cannot  be  proper,  since  it  cannot  be  safe,  for  the 
king  to  go  to  Weymouth  so  soon  as  he  intends.  Your  lordship  will,  therefore,  no 
doubt,  think  it  requisite  to  take  steps  to  prevent  it  as  soon  as  possible.  I  have  the 
honour  to  be, 

"  Your  lordship's 

"Most  obedient  servant, 

"Taos.  WILLIS." 

It  seems  to  have  been  in  consequence  of  this  letter,  that  the  lord 
chancellor  wrote  to  the  king  as  follows  :  — 

(  Latter  part  of  May,  1801.) 

"The  lord  chancellor,  offering  his  most  humble  duty  to  your  majesty,  presumes 
to  submit  to  your  majesty's  most  gracious  consideration,  that  it  appears  to  him  that 
great  difficulties  may  arise  in  matters  of  public  concern,  if  your  majesty  should  be 
pleased,  during  the  time  of  the  sitting  of  Parliament,  which  he  conceives  cannot  now 
be  long,  to  remove  to  any  considerable  distance  from  Parliament.  It  cannot  but 
happen  that  before  Parliament  can  be  closed,  some  intelligence  should  be  received 
from  abroad,  upon  which  it  may  be  absolutely  necessary  to  learn  promptly,  and  per- 
haps instantly,  your  majesty's  pleasure,  and  to  learn  it  by  communications  more 
ample  than  your  majesty  could  possibly  allow  to  your  servants,  if  they  were  not  per- 
sonally attending,  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty,  upon  your  majesty.  Communica- 
tions, in  the  form  of  messages  to  Parliament  not  admitting  of  delay,  may  also  become 
necessary.  Impressed  at  this  moment  with  a  deep  sense  that  it  is  extremely  import- 
ant on  all  accounts  to  your  majesty's  welfare,  that  your  majesty  should  be  graciously 
pleased  to  secure  to  your  servants  the  means  of  personally  communicating  with 


206  LIFE  OF  LORD 

your  majesty,  at  least  daring  the  short  interval  which  must  elapse  before  Parlia- 
ment separates,  at  the  close  of  which  they  may,  in  obedience  to  your  majesty's  com- 
mands, attend  your  majesty  anywhere,  the  lord  chancellor  ventures  to  hope  that  your 
majesty  will  not  think  ii  inconsistent  with  his  duty,  that  he  should  have  most  humbly, 
but  most  earnestly,  submitted  to  your  majesty  the  expression  of  his  conscientious 
conviction  upon  this  subject. 

"The  lord  chancellor  also  requests  your  majesty's  gracious  permission  to  intro- 
duce to  your  majesty,  the  master  of  the  rolls  and  the  solicitor-general,  previous  to 
your  majesty's  birth-day.  As  Tuesday  is  the  seal-day  in  your  majesty's  Court  of 
Chancery,  your  majesty  may  probably  have  the  goodness  to  give  that  permission  on 
Wednesday." 

From  this  letter  it  will  be  perceived  that  the  king,  though  still  under 
occasional  excitement,  was  not  considered  by  his  servants  to  be  unfit 
for  his  ordinary  public  duties.  On  the  31st  of  May,  he  answers  the 
lord  chancellor's  representation,  with  his  own  hand,  in  these  terms : — 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"Kew,  May  31st,  1801. 

"The  king  cannot  allow  any  difficulty  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  doing  what  may 
be  most  useful  to  the  public  service.  He  will,  therefore,  postpone  his  journey  to 
Weymouth,  till  the  close  of  the  session  of  Parliament,  relying  that  the  lord  chan- 
cellor and  Mr.  Addington  will  bring  it  as  soon  as  possible  to  a  conclusion.  He  will 
not,  therefore,  change  any  arrangement  for  removing  the  things  necessary  to  be  sent 
to  Weymouth,  but  he  and  his  family  will  remain  at  hand  till  that  period.  His  majesty 
will  be  glad  to  receive,  at  the  queen's  palace,  the  master  of  the  rolls  and  solicitor- 
general  on  Wednesday,  any  time  after  one,  that  may  best  suit  the  lord  chancellor; 
when  he  hopes  to  hear  who  may  be  most  eligible  to  be  appointed  solicitor-general  to 
the  queen. 

"  GEOIIRE  R." 

The  state  of  the  king's  health,  as  well  as  the  confidence  placed  by 
the  royal  family  in  Lord  Eldon,  will  be  still  further  understood  from 
a  few  extracts  of  letters,  written  by  the  late  Landgravine  of  Hesse 
Homberg,  then  Princess  Elizabeth,  and  addressed,  it  should  seem,  to 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Willis,  by  whom  they  appear  to  have  been  forwarded  to 
the  chancellor.  After  the  lapse  of  forty  years  and  the  death  of  almost 
all  the  parties  interested,  there  is  very  little,  in  this  correspondence, 
which  may  not  fitly  enter  into  general  history.  That  little,  though 
of  a  character  which  does  high  honour  to  the  feelings  of  the  illustrious 
lady  who  wrote  it,  is  withheld,  as  relating  to  points  of  private  confi- 
dence. 

(The  Princess  Elizabeth  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Willis.) — (Extract.) 

"June  6th,  1801. 

"After  receiving  one  note  you  will  be  surprised  at  this:  but  second  thoughts  are 
sometimes  best:  besides  which,  I  am  commanded  by  the  queen  to  inform  "you  by 
letter  how  much  this  subject  of  the  princess  is  still  in  the  king's  mind,  to  a  degree 
that  is  distressing,  from  the  unfortunate  situation  of  the  family' ;  and  mamma  is  of 
opinion  that  the  lord  chancellor  should  be  informed  of  it,  as  he  has  mentioned  the 
subject  to  Mr.  Dundas,  to-day.  The  queen  commands  me  to  add,  that  if  you  could 
see  her  heart,  you  would  see  that  she  is  guided  by  every  principle  of  justice,  and 
with  a  most  fervent  wish  that  the  dear  king  may  do  nothing  to  form  a  breach  between 
him  and  the  prince,— for  she  really  lives  in  dread  of  it;  for,  from  the  moment  my 
brother  comes  into  the  room  till  the  instant  he  quits  it,  there  is  nothing  that  is  not 
kind  that  the  king  does  not  do  by  him.  This  is  so  different  to  his  manner  when  well, 
and  his  ideas  concerning  ihe  child  so  extraordinary,  that,  to  own  to  you  the  truth,  I 
am  not  astonished  at  mamma's  uneasiness.  She  took  courage  and  told  the  king,  that 
now  my  brother  was  quiet,  he  had  better  leave  him  so,  as  he  never  had  forbid  the 
princess  seeing  the  child  when  she  pleased;  to  which  he  answered,  '  that  does  not 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  207 

signify,  the  princess  shall  have  her  child,  and  I  will  speak  to  Mr.  Wyatt  about  the 
building  of  the  wing  to  her  present  house.'  You  know  full  well  how  speedily  every 
thing  is  now  ordered  and  done.  In  short,  what  mamma  wishes  is,  that  you  would  in- 
form the  lord  chancellor  that  his  assistance  is  much  wanted  in  preventing  the  king 
doing  any  thing  that  shall  hurt  him.  The  princess  spoke  to  me  on  the  conversation 
the  king  had  had  with  her,  expressed  her  distress,  and  I  told  her  how  right  she  was  in 
not  answering,  as  I  feared  the  king's  intentions,  though  most  kindly  meant,  might 
serve  to  hurt  and  injure  her  in  the  world.  I  hope  I  was  not  wrong,  but  I  am  always 
afraid  when  she  speaks  to  me  on  such  unfortunate  subjects.  I  think  the  king  heated 
and  fatigued,  which  I  am  not  surprised  at,  not  having  been  one  minute  quiet  the 
whole  day.  I  assure  you  it  is  a  very'  great  trial  the  anxiety  we  must  go  through; 
but  we  trust  in  God, — therefore,  we  hope  for  the  best. 

"Your  friend, 

14  ELIZABETH." 

(The  Princess  Elizabeth, probably  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Willis.') — f Extract.) 

"June  9th,  1801. 

"I  am  but  just  come  into  my  room,  where  I  found  your  very  comfortable  letter, 
•which  I  return  you  many  thanks  for.  I  had  promised  mamma  to  tell  you,  &c. 

*  «  *  »  * 

"She  commands  me  to  say  to  you  that  she  wishes  the  lord  chancellor  would  show 
Mr.  Addington,  that,  as  the  king  is  contented  with  it,  that  he  had  better  not  hurry  our 
going,  as  he  is  so  much  better,  that  there  is  hope  that  in  gaining  strength,  it  will  en- 
sure us  from  having  a  relapse,  which  you  may  easily  believe  is  her  earnest  and  daily 
prayer.  He  has  been  very  quiet,  very  heavy,  and  very  sleepy,  all  the  evening,  and 
has  said  two  or  three  times,  yesterday  was  too  much  for  him.  God  grant  that  his 
eyes  may  soon  open,  and  that  he  may  see  his  real  and  true  friends  in  their  true  co- 
lours. How  it  grieves  one  to  see  so  fine  a  character  clouded  by  complaint!  but  He 
who  inflicted  it  may  dispel  it,  so  I  hope  all  will  soon  be  well. 

"Your  friend, 

"ELIZABETH." 

(  The  Princess  Elizabeth,  probably  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Willis.) 

"June  12th,  1801. 

"I  have  the  pleasure  of  saying  yesterday  was  a  very  good  day,  though  the  sleepi- 
ness continues  to  a  great  degree.  I  am  told  the  night  has  been  tolerable,  but  he  has 
got  up  in  his  usual  way,  which  is  very  vexatious.  I  am  commanded  by  the  queen 
to  desire  you  will  say  every  thing  from  her  to  the  lord  chancellor,  and  thank  him 
in  the  strongest  terms  for  the  interest  he  has  taken  in  her  distress.  She  so  entirely 
builds  her  faith  on  him,  that  she  doubts  not  his  succeeding  in  every  thing  with  his 
majesty,  who,  to  say  true,  greatly  wants  the  advice  of  so  good  a  friend  and  so  good 
ahead.  How  providential  is  it  that  he  is,  thank  God,  placed  where  one  can  know 
his  worth !  I  have  just  seen  Brown,  who  is  very  well  satisfied:  this  morning,  there- 
fore, I  trust  all  is  going  on  well,  though  I  feel  that  there  is  still  fear. 

"  Your  friend, 

"  ELIZABETH. 
"I  assure  you  we  are  not  a  little  thankful  to  you  for  all  the  trouble  you  take  for  us." 

( The  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Willis  to  the  Lord  Chancellor.') 

"  Kew  Green,  June  16th,  1801.    Eight  o'clock,  p.  M. 
"  My  Lord, 

"  Dear  John,  who  has  not  seen  the  king,  will  bring  this  to  town.  I  have  nothing  to 
say  that  is,  in  truth,  very  favourable.  His  majesty  rode  out  this  morning  at  ten  o'clock, 
and  did  not  return  till  four:  he  paid  a  visit  in  the  course  of  the  day  to  Mr.  Dundas. 
His  attendants  thought  him  much  hurried,  and  so  think  his  pages.  He  has  a  great 
thirst  upon  him,  and  his  family  are  in  great  fear.  His  majesty  still  talks  much  of  his 
prudence,  but  he  shows  none.  His  body,  mind  and  tongue  are  all  upon  the  stretch 
every  minute ;  and  the  manner  in  which  he  is  now  expending  money  in  various  ways, 
which  is  so  unlike  him  when  well,  all  evince  that  he  is  not  so  right  as  he  should  be. 
"My  lord, 

"Your  lordship's  most  obedient  servant, 

"  THOMAS  WILLIS." 

The  disorder,  however,  took  so  favourable  a  turn,  that,  in  very  few 


208  LIFE  OF  LORD 

days  more,  the  king's  recovery  was  pronounced  to  be  complete.  The 
lord  chancellor,  anxious,  on  every  account,  to  guard  against  its  recur- 
rence, then  ventured  to  address  his  majesty  in  a  letter  recommending 
that  the  attendance  of  Dr.  Robert  Willis  should  still  be  continued. 
This  eminent  physician,  as  well  as  his  relatives,  Drs.  John  and  Tho- 
mas Willis,  had  bestowed  particular  attention  upon  disorders  of  the 
mind ;  and  the  care  and  skill  of  them  all  had  been  united  to  effect  the 
recovery  of  the  king.  But  his  majesty  retained  an  unconquerable  dis- 
like to  their  presence ;  partly,  no  doubt,  from  painful  associations,  and 
partly,  perhaps,  from  a  feeling,  that  so  long  as  he  should  be  attended 
by  any  medical  man  peculiarly  practised  in  cases  of  mental  alienation, 
he  would  be  tacitly  acknowledging  the  continuance  of  some  unsound- 
ness  in  his  intellect.  His  answer  to  the  lord  chancellor,  however,  is 
altogether  free  from  any  morbid  taint : — 

( King  George  HI.  to  the  Lord  Chancellor.) 

"Kew,  June  21st,  1801. 

"The  king  would  not  do  justice  to  the  feelings  of  his  heart,  if  he  an  instant  delayed 
expressing  his  conviction  of  the  attachment  the  lord  chancellor  bears  him,  of  which 
the  letter  now  before  him  is  a  fresh  proof;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  cannot  but  in  the 
strongest  manner  decline  the  idea  of  having  Dr.  Robert  Willis  about  him.  The  line 
of  practice  followed  with  great  credit  by  that  gentleman  renders  it  incompatible  with 
the  king's  feelings  that  he  should,  now  by  the  goodness  of  Divine  Providence  restored 
to  reason,  consult  a  person  of  that  description.  His  majesty  is  perfectly  satisfied  with 
the  zeal  and  attention  of  Dr.  Gisborne,  in  whose  absence  he  will  consult  Sir  Francis 
Millman;  but  he  cannot  bear  the  idea  of  consulting  any  of  the  Willis  family,  though 
he  shall  ever  respect  the  character  and  conduct  of  Dr.  Robert  Willis.  No  person 
that  ever  has  had  a  nervous  fever  can  bear  to  continue  the  physician  employed  on 
the  occasion;  and  this  holds  much  more  so,  in  the  calamitous  one  that  has  so  long 
confined  the  king,  but  of  which  he  is  now  completely  recovered. 

"GtOKOE  R." 

Again,  two  days  afterwards : — 

"Kew,  June  23d,  1801. 

"The  king  is  much  pleased  with  the  whole  contents  of  the  lord  chancellor's  letters, 
and  returns  the  commission,  having  signed  it,  for  passing  the  bills  now  ready  for  the 
royal  assent.  He  cannot  avoid  adding,  as  he  knows  it  will  give  pleasure  to  the  per- 
son to  whom  it  is  addressed,  that  appetite  and  good  sleep  is  perfectly,  by  the  goodness 
of  Divine  Providence,  restored;  and  that  no  degree  of  attention  shall  be  wanting  to 
keep  those  necessary  assistants  of  perfect  health." 

"  GEORGE  R." 

The  first  speech  made  by  Lord  Eldon  in  the  House  of  Lords  as 
chancellor,  of  which  any  report  has  been  published,*  was  on  the  occa- 
sion of  a  divorce  bill,  applied  for  by  a  wife  against  her  husband  :— 

Lord  Thurlow  insisted,  that  the  very  special  nature  of  the  circumstances  in  this 
case  would  warrant  the  House  in  departing  from  their  usual  rule,  which  is,  that  a 
divorce  a  vlnculo  mafrimonii.  shall  not  be  granted  on  the  application  of  the  wife. 

The  lord  chancellor  said,  he  had  at  first  been  for  adhering  to  that  rule,  but  was 
induced,  by  Lord  Thurlow's  argument,  to  agree  that  this  particular  case  might  be 
properly  exempted  from  it.  At  the  same  time,  he  must  retain  his  opinion,  that,  in 
general,  the  application  of  a  wife  fora  divorce,  on  the  ground  of  her  husband's  adul- 
tery, ought, for  the  sake  of  securing  the  morals  of  the  public,  to  be  resisted  and  refused. 
It  was  to  be  considered  that  adultery  committed  by  a  wife  and  adultery  committed  by 
her  husband  were  widely  different  in  their  consequences.  The  adultery  of  a  wife 
might  impose  a  spurious  issue  upon  the  husband,  which  he  might  be  called  upon  to 
dedicate  a  part  of  his  fortune  to  educate  and  provide  for;  whereas,  no  such  injustice 

*Parl.  Hist.  1801,  May  20th. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  209 

could  result  to  his  wife  from  the  adultery  of  a  married  man;  and  in  many  cases,  not 
only  a  reconciliation  might  be  brought  about,  but  it  became  the  especial  duty  of  a 
wife  to  forgive  her  husband's  misconduct,  from  motives  of  tenderness  and  concern  to 
the  interests  of  his  innocent  children. 

In  this  month  of  May,  a  bill  was  introduced  into  Parliament,  and 
enacted  as  the  41st  of  Geo.  3.  c.  66,  having  for  its  object  to  in- 
demnify those  who  had  acted  in  the  detention  of  persons  suspected 
of  treasonable  practices  during  the  several  suspensions  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act.  The  necessity  of  this  bill  was  expressed  in  its  preamble 
by  a  recital  that  the  detaining  parties  would  have  no  defence  against 
actions  by  the  parties  detained,  without  a  disclosure  of  the  means  by 
which  the  traitorous  designs  of  the  latter  had  been  discovered,  which 
means  it  was  necessary  to  keep  secret,  for  the  further  prevention  of 
similar  practices.  On  the  order  for  the  second  reading  in  the  House 
of  Lords,* 

The  lord  chancellor,  in  supporting  the  measure,  said  it  was  one  of  his  earliest 
maxims  in  politics,  that  political  liberty  could  not  be  durable,  unless  the  system  of 
its  administration  permitted  it  to  be  occasionally  parted  with,  in  order  to  secure  it  for 
ever.  When  it  was  otherwise,  liberty  contained  the  seeds  of  its  own  destruction. 
n  ith  respect  to  the  consideration  of  necessity,  he  was  aware  that  it  was  often  the 
plea  of  tyrants;  yet  it  was  that  consideration  on  which  the  most  moderaie  men,  when 
they  took  prudence  for  their  guide,  must  sometimes  act.  In  all  periods  of  our  history, 
icir  lordships  would  find  that  the  benefits  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  were  occasion- 
ally relinquished;  but  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  did  not  take  awav 
the  responsibility  of  ministers.  There  were  cases  in  which,  if  a  minister  did  not  act, 
he  would  deserve  to  lose  his  head.  Such,  for  instance,  and  he  stated  no  hypothetical 
case,  was  the  occasion  of  ambassadors  passing  from  Ireland  through  England  to 
France,  and  vice  versa,  for  purposes  of  a  treasonable  nature.  In  such  a  case,  where 
the  information  was  such  as  could  not  be  doubted,  if  a  minister  refused  to  act,  what 
would  he  not  deserve  1  And  yet  such  person  could  not  be  indemnified  for  his  conduct 
without  such  a  bill  as  that  before  their  lordships. 

The  next  subject  on  which  Lord  Eldon  appears,  from  the  parlia- 
mentary history,  to  have  addressed  the  House  of  Lords  in  this  first 
session  of  his  chancellorship,  was  that  of  the  bill  declaring  persons 
in  holy  orders  disqualified  to  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The 
entrance  of  the  Rev.  John  Home  Tooke  into  that  assembly  had  been 
the  proximate  cause  of  the  bill,  which  the  lord  chancellor  now  sup- 
ported on  the  ground  that  holy  orders  are  indelible.  In  support  of 
this  principle  he  adduced  much  learning  and  authority.f 

The  session  closed  on  the  2d  of  July,  the  king's  speech  being 
delivered  by  the  lord  chancellor. 

The  royal  excursion  to  Weymouth,  of  which  the  king  had  spoken 
in  his  letter  of  the  31st  of  May,  took  place  at  the  close  of  June;  and 
their  majesties,  in  travelling  through  Hampshire,  paid  a  visit  at  CuflT- 
nells,  the  seat  of  the  Right  Honourable  George  Rose.  From  Cuffhells 
the  king  writes  to  the  chancellor  on  the  1st  of  July,  announcing  the 
continued  improvement  of  his  health.  On  the  same  day,  Mr.  Rose 
sends  to  Lord  Eldon  his  own  account  of  the  king's  bodily  state,  an 
account  which  shows  that  the  honour  of  the  royal  visit  had  no  small 
alloy  of  uneasiness  for  the  host : — 

*  Parl.  Hist.  1801,  June  19. 
t  Parl.  Hist.  1801,  June  15.— Stat.  41  Geo.  3.  c.  63. 
VOL.  I. — 14 


210  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"Cuffnells,  (Wednesday.)  July  1st,  1801. 

"My  dear  Lord, 

"His  majesty  came  clown  here,  most  perfectly  well,  on  Monday,  about  three  o'clock, 
•without  the  slightest  appearance  of  fatigue  from  his  journey,  walked  about  a  little  in 
the  afternoon,  and  rested  extremely  well  at  night.  Yesterday  he  rode  to  Walhampton 
to  dine  with  Sir  Harry  Neale  (a  visit  settled  some  weeks  ago),  and  passed  through 
Lymington.  Unfortunately,  a  heavy  shower  fell  while  his  majesty  was  on  the  road, 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  short  of  this  place.  No  entreaties  could  prevail  with  him  to 
put  on  a  great  coat,  and  he  was  wet  through  before  he  reached  the  town  hall,  where 
he  remained  about  three  quarters  of  an  hour,  speaking  to  the  mayor  and  several 
gentlemen.  He  then  went  on  to  Sir  Harry  Neal's,  and  dined  without  changing  his 
clothes;  then  rode  back  here,  and  was  again  wet,  but  changed  his  dress  as  soon  as  he 
got  in.  There  is  no  describing  the  uneasiness  I  felt  at  his  majesty  keeping  on  his 
wet  clothes,  because  I  recollect  Mr.  Pitt  telling  me  that  his  first  illness,  in  1788,  was 
supposed  to  be  brought  on  by  the  same  thing;  but  there  was  no  possible  means  of 
preventing  it.  The  exercise,  too,  must  have  been,  I  fear,  too  much  after  the  disuse 
of  riding  for  some  time.  His  majesty  intends  going  to  Southampton  (ten  miles)  on 
horseback  to-day,  and  returning  to  dinner.  I  mention  these  circumstances  to  your 
lordship,  deriving  some  relief  to  my  own  mind  from  it,  without  a  hope  of  your  being 
able  to  take  any  immediate  step  in  concert  with  Mr.  Addington  or  others  of  his  majes- 
ty's servants,  but  trusting  that  it  may  induce  your  lordship  to  make  as  early  a  visit 
to  Weymouth  as  possible. 

"  His  majesty  had  taken  a  determination  to  go  by  sea  from  Lymington  to  Wey- 
mouth, if  it  should  be  found  practicable;  the  first  of  which  places  is  considerably 
within  the  Needles,  and  their  majesties  and  the  royal  family  would  have  had  four 
miles  to  go,  in  a  boat,  from  the  town  to  where  the  yachts  are ;  nor  could  it  be  known, 
till  they  got  there,  whether  the  wind  would  be  such  as  to  ensure  their  making  a  quiet 
passage  to  Weymouth.  I  therefore  have  ventured  to  suggest  their  majesties  break- 
fasting at  my  cottage,  near  Christ  Church,  on  Friday  morning.  If,  when  they  get 
there,  the  wind  is  fair,  and  the  weather  fine,  they  can  embark  easily,  as  the  yachts 
will  be  within  half  a  mile  of  the  cottage.  If  the  wind  shall  not  be  fair,  horses  will  be 
ready  at  Christ  Church  (which  is  entirely  in  the  road),  and  at  the  other  stages,  to 
carry  their  majesties  and  the  royal  family  to  Weymouth. — Sir  Harry  Neal  and  Cap- 
tain Gray  think  that,  beyond  all  comparison,  a  better  place  than  the  embarkation  from 
Lymington.  The  run  from  Christ  Church  to  Weymouth,  with  a  fair  wind,  is  not 
more  than  four,  five  or  six  hours. 

"  Your  lordship  will,  I  am  sure,  forgive  me  for  troubling  you  with  all  these  particu- 
lars, and  will  attribute  my  doing  so  to  the  true  motive. 

"I  can  add  nothing  to  the  entreaties  I  have  already  used,  that  you  will  come  here, 
if  you  can,  when  you  come  westward. 

"Ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"  Most  truly  yours, 

"  GEORGE  ROSE. 

"  We  are  returned  from  Southampton.  All  remarkably  well  with  the  king:  he  has 
not  suffered,  in  the  smallest  degree,  from  yesterday's  business.  His  majesty  was  de- 
lighted with  his  reception  at  Southampton." 

In  the  course  of  this  summer,  Lord  Eldon  had  the  opportunity  of 
offering  some  substantial  preferment  in  the  church  to  his  old  master, 
and  to  his  old  master's  son.  Mr.  Moises,  in  a  letter  dated  6th  July, 
1801,  accepts  very  gratefully  this  kindness  for  his  son,  but  says  as  to 
himself, 

"  I  must  be  permitted  to  think  that  I  shall  be  better  entitled  to  your  favourable  opin- 
ion— shall  certainly  act  in  a  manner  more  becoming  my  great  age — to  decline  any 
distinctions  of  increased  wealth  or  consequence.  *  * 

**•»•*• 
I  live  in  a  constant  expectation  of  my  discharge." 

Another  example  of  Lord  Eldon's  abiding  attachment  to  his  early 
friends  will  be  found  in  the  following  extracts  from  a  letter  of  his  to 
Mr.  Reay:  — 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  211 

"London,  September  8th,  1801. 

"  Before  I  say  a  word  about  other  matters,  let  me  heave  one  sigh  over  James  Wil- 
kinson !  It  was  but  yesterday  that  we  three  were  engaged  in  the  follies  of  childhood, 
and  the  sports  of  youth.  The  period  which  has  since  past,  seems  short,— how  short 
in  all  probability,  must  that  appear,  then,  which  is  yet  to  pass  before  we  shall  be 
gathered  together  again. 

"And  now,  as  I  know  you  take  an  interest  in  what  concerns  me,  and  in  what  I 
think  about  what  concerns  me,  allow  me  to  say,  I  left  the  Common  Pleas  with  inex- 
pressible regret.  I  there  sat  in  an  honourable,  independent  and  reasonably  profitable 
situation  for  life,  with  employment  for  life,  probably  neither  too  much  nor  too  little. 
J{  polidcs  I  had  had  more  than  enough  before  I  got  there.  No  man,  therefore,  ever 
said  "  Nolo  episcopari"  with  more  sincerity  than  I  did,  when  I  was  called  upon  to  ac- 
cept an  office,  which  plunged  me  again  into  politics,  into  a  state  of  dependence,— and 
overwhelming  me  with  business  at  this  moment,  exposes  me,  at  the  next  mome'nt,  for 
the  remainder  of  my  life,  to  be  turned  into  a  situation  of  useless  and  listless  inactivity. 
I  did  not,  however,  think  myself  at  liberty,  and  I  could  not  think  myself  at  liberty  to 
disobey  the  king's  personal  commands:  but  I  assure  you,  that  I  have  not  increased 
my  comfort  or  my  happiness.  I  must,  however,  do  the  best  I  can.  Among  others  of 
the  little  unpleasantnesses,  one  is,  that  I  bid  fair  to  be  confined  in  town  for  the  whole 
summer.  I  went  to  Weymouth,  meaning  to  make  a  little  stay,  but  was  called  back 
again  in  three  days. 

"  And  now  as  to  the  learned  clerks  whom  you  mention  to  me.  I  looked  to  it,  cer- 
tainly, as  one  great  comfort  that  I  might  gratify  those  I  love,  by  doing  some  good  to 
those  that  they  esteem.  But  I  have  greatly  overrated  ihis  matter.  In  the  first  place,  I 
have  been  very  unlucky;  for  the  gentlemen  who  labour  to  consign  others  to  immor- 
tality, seem  to  cling  themselves  most  amazingly  to  this  mortal  world,  and  the  rarity 
with  which  I  have  had  vacancies  of  livings  is  really  remarkable :  certainly  not  in  the 
proportion  of  one  to  a  dozen,  I  believe,  throughout  all  Lord  Rosslyn's  time.  In  a  word, 
with  the  exceptions  of  a  trifling  thing,  which  I  gave  to  Charles  Stoddart,  whom  you 
may  remember,  and  the  living  I  have  given  to  Moises.  I  have  yet  presented  to  none 
really  given  by  myself.  From  persons  great  and  small,  I  have,  nevertheless,  had,  I 
think  I  may  almost  say,  thousands  of  applications,  most  of  them  impudently  frame'd, 
in  effect,  upon  some  such  notion  as  that  I  cannot  myself  have  in  the  world  a  clergy- 
man that  I  can  have  any  personal  wishes  in  favour  of,  or  a  friend  who  has  in  any  cler- 
gyman a  friend  in  whose  welfare  he  takes  an  interest.  Many  of  these  applications, 
however,  come  from  persons  whose  weight  throws  much  difficulty  in  my  way,  and 
more  than  I  can  easily  remove.  Besides  this,  in  confidence  be  it  spoken,  the  different 
branches  of  the  royal  family  communicate  their  wishes,  which  are  commands  that 
supersede  even  promises  to  others;  and,  upon  the  whole, I  do  assure  you  I  have  little 
elbow  room.  I  will  not  say  a  word  more  to  you  than  that  I  wish  well  to  all  to  whom 
you  wish  well.  I  have  solemnly  vowed  that  I  will  make  no  promise  to  any  body,  or 

use  expressions  tantamount  to  it.    The  case  of  Mr.  A ,  and  others  in  the  sa'me 

situation,  have  driven  me  to  this.  A  chancellor,  the  creature  of  a  day,  makes  promises: 
he  does  not  remain  chancellor  till  he  can  execute  them.  If  his  successor  pays  any 
attention  to  them,  he  can  give  nothing  to  any  body  to  whom  he  is  himself  attached: 
if  he  does  not,  he  is  racked  by  the  reflections  he  has  upon  the  hardships  in  which 
those  who  received  such  promises  are  accidentally  involved.  I  have  felt  myself  so 
much  about  this,  that  I  have  determined  my  successor  shall  never  feel  as  I  have  felt. 
I  can  only  say,  therefore,  that  your  good  wishes  must  have  weight  with  me.  Don't 
take  it  ill  that  I  say  no  more.  I  am  acting  upon  a  general  principle,  and  I  am  sure  I 
only  do  myself  justice,  when  I  call  upon  you  to  assure  yourself  that  it  is  not  incon- 
sistent with  the  most  cordial  and  unabated  friendship  towards  you." 

(Lord  Chancellor  Eldon  to  William  Jones,  Esq.) 

W(  Without  date,  but  written,  probably,  about  1S01.) 
»  •  »  »  *  * 

"The  anxiety  with  which  you  express  yonrself  in  the  promotion  of  Lady  Orkney's 
wishes,  is  very  far  from  being  unacceptable  to  me.  I  take  leave,  however,  to  repre- 
sent to  you  that,  if  Taplow  becomes  vacant,  it  will  not  be  possible  for  me  to  gratify 
her  ladyship's  wishes.  I  regret  it  upon  other  accounts  ;  but  I  never  have  admitted 
any  pretension  founded  upon  the  proprietorship  of  the  parish;  for  that,  besides  other 
mischiefs  attending  it,  is  in  fact  making  the  crown  a  mere  trustee  of  its  advowsons 
for  every  considerable  family  in  the  kingdom." 


212  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Patronage,  the  main  topic  of  the  last  two  letters,  seems  to  have 
been  the  subject  also  of  a  little  correspondence  with  Lord  Nelson, 
in  whose  handwriting  the  following  brief  but  cordial  note  has  been 
found  among  Lord  Eldon's  papers :  — 

(  Lord  Nelson  to  Lord  Eldon.") 

"Amazon,  Sept.  17th,  1801. 
"  My  Lord, 

"I  feel  very  much  obliged  by  your  open  and  very  handsome  answer  to  my  request, 
which  so  exactly  accords  with  what  my  friend  Davison  told  me  of  your  lordship's 
character;  and  allow  me  to  consider  myself,  in  every  respect, 

"  ifour  most  obliged, 

"NELSON  ASD  BRONTE." 

This  letter  seems  to  have  been  written  from  the  Downs,  whither 
Lord  Nelson  had  returned  after  his  attacks  upon  Boulogne.  Our 
southern  coast  was  at  that  time  threatened  with  immediate  invasion 
from  France ;  but  the  danger  was  disregarded  by  the  generality  of  the 
English  people,  whose  confidence  in  their  naval  defenders  induced 
them  to  make  very  light  of  all  such  menaces.  To  men  of  better  in- 
formation, the  grounds  of  alarm  appeared  more  serious :  as  will  be  seen 
from  the  following  letter,  addressed  to  Lord  Eldon  by  Mr.  Windham, 
who,  though  he  had  quitted  the  government  with  Mr.  Pitt,  was  at  no 
time  disposed  to  withhold  any  aid  he  could  contribute  to  the  defence 
or  service  of  his  country. 

"  Pall  Mall,  No.  167.    Sunday  evening,  20th  (Sept.  1801.) 
"My  dear  Lord, 

"My  two  visits  to-day  to  your  house, which  might  seem  to  imply  somewhat  import- 
ant, had  no  other  object  (nor  need  they  indeed  to  have  more,  had  I  any  thing  material 
to  say  upon  the  subject,)  than  to  talk  of  the  prospect,  which  I  understand  you  now 
generally  suppose  to  exist,  of  an  immediate  invasion  of  these  kingdoms.  At  Wey- 
mouth  you  might  have  observed,  we  did  not  much  trouble  ourselves  with  these  appre- 
hensions; and  in  fact,  the  country  in  general  seems  to  enjoy  the  most  enviable  state 
of  tranquillity  upon  this  head.  It  would  be  cruel  to  interrupt  this  dream  of  security, 
if  it  were  not  to  be  feared  that  this  dream  of  security  might  chance  to  terminate,  if 
left  to  its  own  course,  in  such  a  reality  of  danger  as  the  country  might  never  recover 
from.  I  have  no  difficulty  in  saying,  that  if  the  attempt  at  invasion  is  made,  and  that 
we  do  not  look  sharp,  and  employ,  to  the  very  utmost  advantage,  the  miserable  scanty 
means  which  we  possess,  the  country  may  be  lost  before  we  well  know  where  we  are. 
It  really  drives  one  wild  to  see  the  senseless,  unmeaning,  unreflecting  confidence 
which  now  and  at  other  times  has  been  felt  upon  this  subject,  and  the  neglect,  in  con- 
sequence, of  the  means  which  are  necessary  to  give  us  even  an  equal  chance  of 
escaping.  I  cannot  allow  myself  to  begin  upon  this  subject,  which  would  carry  me 
infinitely  too  far;  but  I  do  conjure  you,  my  dear  lord,  not  to  give  into  this  fatal  confi- 
dence, so  contrary  to  the  opinions  of  all  those  who  are  best  qualified  to  judge;  nor  to 
think,  that  if  this  invasion  is  actually  coming,  one  moment  is  to  be  lost  in  providing 
every  means  that  skill,  prudence,  energy,  vigilance,  foresight  can  permit,  to  guard 
against  its  effects.  I  include  in  this  description  many  more  things  than  I  am  sure 
have  been  done  or  are  doing.  With  all  that  can  be  done,  unless  chance  very  much 
befriends  us,  the  event  may  be  such  as  no  man  can  contemplate  without  horror. 
There  are  some  few  inconsiderable  things,  which  have  occurred  to  me  as  capable  of 
being  done  immediately, and  that  might  be  useful;  but  it  is  unnecessary  to  state  them, 
as  I  have  already  mentioned  them  in  conversation  with  Lord  Pelham. 

"  With  all  my  dread  of  invasion,  I  hope  you  do  not  suppose  me  to  consider  the  dan- 
gers of  invasion  as  by  any  means  equal  to  those  of  peace.  A  man  may  escape  a 
pistol,  however  near  his  head,  but  not  a  dose  of  poison.  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  you  do 
not  very  materially  differ  from  me  in  this  opinion. 

"  Yours  ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"  With  great  truth, 

"W.  WlXDHAM." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON. 

The  necessity,  however,  for  the  precautions  here  recommended, 
was  shortly  afterwards  dispelled  by  the  very  event  which  Mr.  Wind- 
ham  was  most  earnestly  deprecating,  —  a  peace  between  England  and 
France. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.')—  (Extract.) 

"  October  2d,  1  SOI. 

"The  preliminaries  of  peace  with  France  were  signed  last  night.  The  terms,  I 
understand,  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  mention.  With  my  head  and  heart  so  full  as  they 
have  been,  for  ten  days  past,  I  have  felt,  most  deeply,  the  want  of  such  a  friend  as 
you  here.  I  am,  perhaps,  at  this  moment,  one  of  the  most  anxious  of  mankind.  I  think, 
upon  the  whole,  the  peace,  as  to  its  terms,  not  objectionable,  if  we  could  forget  the 
damnable  principles  upon  which  France  has  acted  and  may  continue  to  act.  You 
would  excuse  a  great  deal  upon  all  subjects,  if  you  knew  the  state  of  mind  I  am  in. 

"Ever  yours,  affectionately, 


On  this  measure  the  opinions  of  the  most  eminent  statesmen  were 
by  no  means  unanimous.  Some  members,  even  of  the  cabinet,  among 
whom  Lord  Eldon  may  be  included,  appear  to  have  considered  it 
rather  as  an  unavoidable,  than  as  a  desirable  adjustment.  He  de- 
fended it  in  the  House  of  Lords,  both  in  the  debate  of  the  3d  Novem- 
ber, 1801,  on  the  preliminaries,  and  in  the  debate  of  the  13th  of  the 
following  May  on  the  definitive  treaty. 


214  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
1801—1803. 

Lord  Eldon  appointed  steward  of  the  University  of  Oxford. — Letter  of  George  III. — 
Recorder's  report. — Speeches  on  peace  of  Amiens  and  convention  with  Russia. — 
Letter  on  patronage  from  the  first  Lord  Melville. — George  the  Third's  view  of  a 
speaker's  duty. — Death  of  Lord  Kenyon. — Letters  of  George  III. — Labours  of  the 
chancellor. — Letter  of  the  first  Lord  Liverpool  on  the  treatment  of  aliens. — More 
letters  of  George  III. — Termination  of  peace  with  France. 

ON  the  24th  of  July,  1801,  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  high  steward- 
ship of  the  University  of  Oxford,  by  the  death  of  William,  Earl  of 
Dartmouth.  The  present  Earl  of  Eldon  says:  — 

"  The  appointment,  unlike  the  case  of  Cambridge,  where  the  senate 
elect  this  officer,  is  vested  in  the  Chancellor  of  Oxford,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  convocation ;  and,  accordingly,  on  the  18th  of  September, 
the  Duke  of  Portland  conferred  this  office  on  Lord  Eldon ;  who,  on 
the  15th  of  October,  received  from  the  convocation  the  diploma  of 
doctor  in  civil  law." 

Lord  Eldon  appears  to  have  expressed  to  the  Duke  of  Portland 
some  anxiety  to  know  whether  his  thanks  to  the  university  must  be 
returned  in  Latin,  and  to  have  prepared  himself  for  that  task  with  the 
assistance  of  Sir  William  Scott,  who  had  a  remarkable  felicity  in  Latin 
composition. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.)— (Extract.) 

"Monday,  (19th  October,  1801.) 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"On  Saturday  night  I  received  a  diploma  from  the  chancellor,  masters  and  scholars 
of  Oxford,  conferring  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  I  understood  that  a  bit  of  Latin 
answer  must  be  sent;  and  I  humbly  pray  two  sentences  from  your  pen.  I  will  call 
to-morrow  morning. 

"  The  thing  I  have  received  is  short.  It  states  my  being  exalted  to  the  most  grave 
office  of  seneschal :  that  I  am  '  vir  egregius,'  and  one  of  whom  they  make  much, 
'magnifacimus,'  as  having  consecrated  my  youth  among  them  to  « literis,  virtuti,  pie- 
tali;1  and  afterwards,  betaking  myself  to  the  study  of  the  law,  they  said  I  had  gained 
the  'primariam  laudem'  of  'diligentiae,probitatis,et  judicii,-'  and  that,  having  always 
favoured  them  and  their  interests,  they  hold  me  '  in  deliciis,'  and  therefore  they  give 
me  this,  their  highest  honour.  This  is  the  sum  total.  Pray,  pray,  give  me  two  sen- 
tences, thanking  them  and  assuring  them,  that  to  the  best  of  ttial  judgment  (the  talent 
they  are  pleased  to  allow  me)  I  wish  to  dedicate  my  old  age,  with  diligenfia,  and  more 
of  it  than  adorned  my  adolescentia,  to  <  literis,  virtuti,  probitati,  et  pietati,'  and  their 
interests." 

The  Duke  of  Portland,  however,  being  of  opinion  that  no  Latin  was 
necessary  on  this  occasion,  wrote  to  Lord  Eldon  the  following  letter, 
which  has  some  political  as  well  as  academical  and  personal  interest, 
the  duke  then  filling  the  high  office  of  president  of  the  council,  and 
confidentially  addressing  the  lord  chancellor  as  his  colleague:  — 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  215 

"  Bulstrode,  Wednesday,  October  21st,  1801. 

"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  strongly  incline  to  be  of  opinion  that  no  expectation  has  ever  been  conceived 
by  the  university,  of  receiving  your  thanks  in  a  Latin  epistle  ;  and  I  cannot  help  in- 
ferring, from  the  vice-chancellor's  desiring  that  I  will  let  him  know  that  I  had  com- 
plied with  the  wishes  of  the  university  in  delivering  you  the  diploma,  that  a  letter 
from  you  to  me,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  it,  which  may  be  communicated  to  the 
convocation,  is  all  that  is  looked  for  or  desired.  However,  if  your  lordship  chooses 
to  express  your  sentiments  to  the  university  in  the  Latin  language,  either  by  letter 
or  a  speech  when  you  are  admitted  to  the  office  of  steward,  or  in  both  ways,  there 
cannot  be  any  impropriety  in  it;  and  as  I  very  sincerely  trust  that  I  shall  never  again, 
exercise  my  privilege  of  appointing  a  steward  of  the  university,  if  you  have  any 
•wish  to  write  or  speak  Latin,  I  do  not  feel  sufficiently  interested  about  your  successor 
to  trouble  myself  much  about  the  embarrassment  this  precedent  may  occasion  him. 

"  There  is  another  subject,  which  I  must  beg  to  mention  to  you  in  confidence,  about 
which,  you  will  allow  me  to  say,  I  feel  considerably  more  concerned  than  respecting 
that  which  I  have  just  quitted.  I  mean  the  indifference,  or,  to  speak  more  properly, 
the  indisposition,  at  least,  of  Lord  Rosslyn,  to  approve  the  terms  of  peace  and  to 
attend  the  meeting  of  Parliament,  with  regard  to  both  which  I  know  he  has  said  that 
he  knew  nothing  but  what  he  had  read  in  the  newspapers  or  Gazette,  and  that  he  had 
had  but  too  much  time  to  reflect  in  solitude  upon  the  unpleasant  events  of  the  present 
period.  To  you,  my  dear  lord,  who,  I  believe,  as  well  as  myself,  do  not  entertain, 
much  more  sanguine  or  comfortable  prospects  than  Lord  Rosslyn  of  the  actual  state 
of  things,  but  feel  that  every  exertion  must  be  made  to  prevent  as  much  as  possible 
the  evils  which  cannot  but  be  apprehended  from  them,  it  will  appear  no  less  desirable 
than  it  does  to  me,  that  the  most  perfect  means  should  be  taken  to  put  an  end  to  the 
sort  of  language  which  is  held  by  Lord  Rosslyn,  and  to  remove  from  him  all  cause  of 
complaint  upon  the  ground  of  want  of  attention  or  shyness  on  the  part  of  those  who 
compose  the  administration.  It  is  my  intention  to  suggest  to  Lord  Pelham,  to  whom 
I  suppose,  it  is  left  to  do  that  part  of  the  House  of  Lords'  business,  and  perhaps  to 
Lord  Hawkesbury,  to  write  privately  upon  these  subjects  to  Lord  Rosslyu ;  and  I 
hope  you  will  excuse  my  taking  the  liberty  of  submitting  to  you  the  good  effects  which 
I  conceive  may  arise  from  your  writing  to  him  also.  With  permission,  I  cannot  help 
thinking  that  the  station  you  hold  gives  you  a  peculiar  title  to  communicate  and  con- 
sult with  him,  and  I  am  persuaded  that  he  would  be  much  gratified  by  it.  Was  he 
in  town  I  certainly  would,  and  if  he  comes  I  will  most  assuredly  not  fail  to  converse 
with  him  again  and  again  upon  these  subjects;  but,  considering  my  present  situa- 
tion, I  do  not  feel  that  I  can  do  it  in  writing  to  any  good  purpose;  and  excuse  me  for 
adding,  that  I  am  very  anxious  that  the  suggestion  I  have  ventured  to  throw  out 
respecting  Lord  Rosslyn  may  be  approved  and  adopted  by  you. 
"  I  am  ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"Most  sincerely  yours, 

"  PORTLAND." 

In  accordance  with  the  commencement  of  the  foregoing  letter, 
Lord  Eldon's  answer  to  the  university,  which  duly  expressed  his 
thanks  and  his  sense  of  the  honour  conferred  upon  him,  was  written 
in  English.  It  bears  date  on  the  22d  of  October,  1801,  and  is  re- 

O  •  * 

corded  on  the  register  of  the  convocation. 

To  the  office  of  high  steward  is  attached  an  annual  stipend  of  5/. 
Every  four  years,  when  this  amounted  to  20/.,  Lord  Eldon  presented 
the  accumulation  to  the  RadclifFe  Infirmary,  under  the  designation  of 
"An  Unknown  Benefactor." 

George  III.  seldom  lost  an  occasion  of  countenancing  those  politi- 
cal principles  which  he  regarded  as  the  best  security  of  his  throne, 
and  those  public  men  by  whom  such  principles  were  honestly  upheld. 
In  the  election  of  a  lord  mayor  he  took  sufficient  interest,  to  accom- 
pany his  ratification  of  it  with  a  special  letter  to  the  chancellor : — 


216  LIFE  OF  LORD 

(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"  Windsor,  October  23lh,  1801. 

"  The  king  has  only  this  morning  received  the  lord  chancellor's  note  of  the  23d, 
on  his  being,  in  the  course  of  this  week,  to  receive  a  deputation  from  the  city  of 
London,  to  introduce  Sir  James  Earner  as  the  proposed  lord  mayor  for  the  ensuing 
year. 

"The  king  certainly  can,  with  great  propriety,  authorize  the  lord  chancellor  to  give 
an  approbation  to  this  choice;  that  alderman  having  uniformly  conducted  himself  as 
a  loyal  subject  and  diligent  magistrate.  Such  men  are  peculiarly  suited  for  the  pre- 
sent year,  when,  by  the  embarrassed  situation  from  the  trial  of  peace  with  a  turbulent 
and  revolutionary  republic,  every  attention  of  the  police  must  be  exerted  to  avoid  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  that  may  otherwise  ensue;  but  the  king  trusts,  if  a  most  re- 
spectable peace  establishment  be  kept  up,  and  the  act  against  seditious  meetings  and 
the  Alien  Bill  be  continued,  that  the  experiment  may  not  be  attended  with  all  the  evils 
that  some  persons  might  expect. 

"GKOllGE    R." 

One  of  the  heaviest  responsibilities  of  the  chancellor,  in  Lord 
Eldon's  time,  was  to  examine  the  recorder's  report  of  the  sentences 
passed  on  criminals  convicted  at  the  Old  Bailey.  "  I  was  exceedingly 
shocked,"  said  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Forster,  "  the  first  time  I  attended 
to  hear  the  recorder's  report,  at  the  careless  manner  in  which,  as  it 
appeared  to  me,  it  was  conducted.  We  were  called  upon  to  decide 
on  sentences,  affecting  no  less  than  the  lives  of  men,  and  yet  there 
was  nothing  laid  before  us,  to  enable  us  to  judge  whether  there  had 
or  had  not  been  any  extenuating  circumstances ;  it  was  merely  a  reca- 
pitulation of  the  judge's  opinion,  and  the  sentence.  I  resolved  that 
I  never  would  attend  another  report,  without  having  read  and  duly 
considered  the  whole  of  the  evidence  of  each  case,  and  I  never  did. 
It  was  a  considerable  labour  in  addition  to  my  other  duties,  but  it  is 
now  a  comfort  to  reflect  that  I  did  do  so,  and  that,  in  consequence,  I 
saved  the  lives  of  several  individuals." 

"  They  used  formerly  to  hang  for  street  robberies.  That  was  a 
time  when  hanging  was  more  in  fashion  than  it  is  now.  In  one  of  the 
recorder's  reports,  there  was  one  man  condemned  for  a  robbery  in  Bed- 
ford Square.  The  king,  George  III.,  consulted  his  council  whether 
this  man's  sentence  should  be  executed,  and  all  the  ministers  except 
one  advised  that  it  should.  « I  observe,'  said  the  king,  '  that  Lord 
Eldon  has  not  yet  spoken ;  what  says  he  ?'  I  answered,  '  I  will  tell 
your  majesty  my  opinion:  It  has  been  the  custom  to  hang  for  street 
robberies,  and  a  very  bad  crime  it  is ;  but  I  think  a  distinction  might 
fairly  be  made  between  those  cases  which  are  attended  by  personal 
violence,  and  those  which  are  not ;  therefore,  as  this  man  did  not  use 
any  violence,  I  differ  from  the  other  lords,  and  think  he  is  not  an 
improper  object  for  your  majesty's  clemency.'  *  Well,  well,'  said  the 
king,  «  since  the  learned  judge  who  lives  in  Bedford  Square,  does  not 
think  there  is  any  great  harm  in  robberies  there,  the  poor  fellow  shall 
not  be  hanged.'  " 

His  majesty  opened  the  session  in  person  on  the  29th  of  October; 
and  on  the  3d  of  November,  a  debate  arising  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
on  the  preliminaries  of  the  peace  with  France, 

The  lord  chancellor,  in  answer  to  Lord  Grenville,  who  had  expressed  his  disappro- 
val of  the  proposed  terms,  declared  his  own  persuasion  that  the  war  had  been,  carried 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON. 

on  until  any  farther  proceeding  in  it  had  become  hopeless.  But  it  had  accomplished  the 
direct  object  for  which  it  was  undertaken,  that  of  repressing  the  principles  and  prac- 
tices of  those  who  had  combined  for  the  overthrow  of  the  British  constitution.  There 
were  some  who  thought  it  behoved  us  to  persevere  until  the  ancient  monarchy  of 
France  should  be  restored;  but,  without  inquiring  how  far  that  was  a  desirable  object, 
he  would  ask  how  far,  and  by  what  means,  it  was  a  practicable  one.  It  could  be 
attempted  only  through  a  great  coalition  of  the  European  powers;  and  such  a  coali- 
tion, when  it  had  existed,  had  been  able  to  do  nothing.  He  dealt  in  detail  with  many 
of  the  intended  stipulations;  and  expressed  his  opinion  that  there  was  now  a  better 
chance  for  a  peace  which  should  be  permanent  than  in  1797  when  the  late  ministers 
negotiated  with  France. 

The  convention  with  Russia  gave  rise  in  the  House  of  Lords  to 
another  debate,  in  which  the  lord  chancellor  took  part,  answering,  at 
considerable  length,  the  attack  of  Lord  Grenville  upon  that  measure. 
The  chancellor's  speech,  as  reported  in  the  Parliamentary  History, 
13th  of  November,  1801,  contains  some  important  reasonings  upon 
the  right  of  belligerents  to  search  the  vessels  of  neutrals.  He  sums 
up  the  result  of  the  convention  by  stating, 

That  the  nation  had  gained  the  great  objects  for  which  they  contended,  viz.,  that 
free  bottoms  did  not  make  free  goods  ;  that  ships  of  war  had  the  right  of  search ;  that 
the  blockade  of  ports  should  be  recognized  as  legitimate;  that  the  exercise  of  these 
rights  should  be  regulated  upon  clear,  intelligible  and  liberal  rules;  and,  which  was 
of  more  consequence  than  all,  that  any  casual  violation  of  them  should  not  be  a 
cause  of  quarrel,  but  should  be  the  subject  of  amicable  adjustment. 

A  great  deal  of  the  lord  chancellor's  correspondence  turns  neces- 
sarily upon  matters  of  patronage.  The  succeeding  extracts,  from  a 
letter  written  to  him  by  the  first  Lord  Melville,  contain  some  sugges- 
tions which  all  governments  may  usefully  bear  in  mind : — 

"Edinburgh,  Dec.  llth,  1810. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"When  we  parted  in  London,  I  promised  to  write  to  you  on  the  subject  of  the 
Scotch  judge. 

"In  consequence  of  communications  with  your  predecessor,  founded  on  the  opin- 
ions of  the  then  lord  advocate  and  lord  president,  it  was  pretty  much  understood  that, 
till  Mr.  Blair  should  signify  his  acquiescence  of  going  to  the  bench,  the  persons  next 
to  be  looked  at  were  Mr.  Alexander  Frazer  Tytler,  Mr.  William  Robertson  and  Mr. 
David  Hume.  I  have  mentioned  them  according  to  their  seniority  at  the  bar.  They 
are  all  respectable  men  and  what  is  never  to  be  forgot  in  this  part  of  the  kingdom, 
they  have  been  uniformly  pure  in  their  political  principles,  during  the  last  eventful 
ten  years  in  which  we  have  lived.  I  particularly  mention  this  last  circumstance, 
because  it  has  been  lately  rumoured  to  me,  that  some  very  violent  spirits,  professing 
themselves  converts,  have  lately  been  attempting  to  bring  themselves  forward  with  a 
view  to  judicial  situations.  I  trust  no  such  attempts  will  be  successful ;  for  if  they 
are,  the  country  will  justly  be  disgusted  and  the  general  strength  of  the  king's  govern- 
ment much  impaired. 

"  Your  obedient  and  faithful  servant, 

"HEXRT  DUNDAS." 

In  February,  1802,  Sir  John  Mitford,  who  had  succeeded  Lord 
Eldon  as  attorney-general,  and  had  afterwards,  on  Mr.  Addington's 
succession  to  the  head  of  the  government,  been  elected  to  the  chair 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  was  appointed  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland, 
and  raised  to  the  peerage  with  the  title  of  Baron  Redesdale.  At  the 
levee,  at  which  he  was  presented  on  the  occasion  of  this  promotion, 
Lord  Eldon  expressed  his  strong  sense  of  Lord  Redesdale's  merits, 
saying  to  Mr.  Henry  Legge,  "  That  is  the  greatest  boon  that  has  been 


218  LIFE  OF  LORD 

conferred  on  Ireland."  Sir  John  Mitford  was  succeeded  as  speaker 
by  Mr.  Abbot,  afterwards  Lord  Colchester,  of  whose  election  the  king 
expressed  his  approval  in  a  characteristic  note  to  Lord  Eldon : — 

(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"  Queen's  Palace,  Feb.  llth,  1802. 

"  The  king  returns  to  the  lord  chancellor  the  commission  for  assenting  to  the  choice 
the  House  of  Commons  has  made  of  Mr.  Abbott  as  their  speaker,  which  he  has  just 
signed;  and  trusts  that  this  gentleman  will  feel  the  propriety  of  following  the  line  of 
conduct  his  two  predecessors  have  chalked  out,  and  not  attempt  novelties,  which  sel- 
dom succeed  in  the  transaction  of  public  business,  and  ought  to  be  reprobated  unless 
the  old  mode  has  been  proved  faulty. 

"GEORGE  R." 

In  the  month  of  April  died  Lord  Kenyon,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice 
of  England,  one  of  the  oldest  friends  of  Lord  Eldon,  who,  speaking  to 
the  present  Lord  Kenyon,  said,  "If  I  had  to  write  your  father's 
epitaph,  I  should  describe  him  'justissimus  unus, — et  servantissimus 
(Rqui."1  "  Lord  Eldon's  regard  for  the  father  was  continued  to  the  son  ; 
who,  at  the  end  of  a  note  communicating  to  the  writer  of  this  memoir 
the  tribute  thus  paid  by  Lord  Eldon  to  the  character  of  the  lord  chief 
justice,  adds,  "You  may  estimate  his  kind  feelings  towards  me  when 
I  tell  you,  that  on  the  morning  of  my  quitting  Encombe  with  my 
daughter,  and  asking  him  how  he  was  that  day,  he  said, '  Pretty  well, 
'  Quanquam  digressu  veteris  confusus  amici.'  " 

Lord  Chief  Justice  Kenyon  was  a  great  lawyer  and  a  man  of  vigor- 
ous understanding.  The  bar,  however,  who  are  "  nothing  if  not  criti- 
cal," would  jeer  at  his  Latin  quotations ;  and  the  Anecdote  Book  says, 
"  They  were  often  such  as  are  to  be  found  in  our  law  books,  rather 
law  Latin  than  classical — '•Amo  stare  supra  antiquas  vias'  was  often 
uttered.  When  I  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
George  III.,  on  my  kissing  hands,  said  to  me,  "  If  you  talk  Latin  when 
on  the  bench,  let  it  be  more  classical  than  Kenyon's.  You  had  better 
speak  English  only  than  Kenyon's  Latin.' — Upon  my  carrying  to  his 
majesty,  upon  some  judge's  appointment,  the  ring,  which,  previous  to 
his  appointment  as  a  judge,  (upon  being  made  serjeant,)  he  gives  the 
chancellor  to  be  tendered  to  his  majesty,  the  king,  upon  reading  the 
inscription  upon  the  ring,  said, '  This  judge  may  talk  Latin.  I  see  he 
reads  Horace.' " 

The  chief  justiceship,  made  vacant  by  Lord  Kenyon's  death,  was 
conferred  on  the  attorney-general,  Sir  Edward  Law,  who  was  created 
Lord  Ellenborough ;  and  the  attorney-generalship  passed  to  the  soli- 
citor-general, the  Honourable  Spencer  Perceval.  The  king,  after 
subscribing  the  warrants  for  the  two  official  appointments,  returned 
them  to  the  lord  chancellor,  with  these  notes : — 

(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"Windsor,  April  llth.  1S02. 

"The  king,  at  the  same  time  that  he  returns  to  the  lord  chancellor  the  two  war- 
rants which  he  has  signed,  appointing  Sir  Edward  Law  a  serjeant  and  Chief  Justice 
of  the  King's  Bench,  whose  appointment  he  trusts  will  be  the  most  eligible,  cannot 
refrain  from  expressing  much  sorrow  at  the  loss  of  so  excellent  a  judge  as  the  late 
Lord  Kenyon,  and  knows  the  lord  chancellor  concurs  in  the  same  sentiment. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  219 

"The  king  hopes  the  lord  chancellor  is  now  getting  rid  of  the  gout,  and  that  by 
the  close  of  the  holidays  his  health  will  be  perfectly  restored. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"  Windsor,  April  14th,  1802. 

"The  king  returns  the  warrant  he  has  signed,  directing  the  warrant  for  the  promo- 
tion of  the  solicitor-general  to  the  office  of  attorney-general.  He  should  have  thought 
it  highly  advantageous  to  the  said  gentleman  if  he  could  have  remained  in  his  former 
situation  a  few  years ;  but,  on  the  present  vacancy,  it  would  have  been  highly  im- 
proper to  have  placed  any  one,  though  a  senior  at  the  bar,  over  his  head. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

The  following  day  again  brought  a  note  from  the  king  to  the  chan- 
cellor, who,  through  gout  and  fatigue,  was  labouring  under  consider- 
able indisposition.  This  note,  and  another  written  a  few  days  after- 
wards, are  inserted  as  indicative  of  the  interest  which  the  sovereign 
continued  to  feel  and  express  in  the  welfare  of  his  distinguished  ad- 
viser. 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"Windsor,  April  loth,  1802. 

"  The  king  returns  the  commission  for  passing  the  bills  this  day  to  the  lord  chan- 
cellor, having  signed  it.  He  at  the  same  time  expresses  a  most  sincere  wish  that 
the  recess  may  be  crowned  with  the  restoration  of  the  lord  chancellor's  health,  and 
strongly  recommends  that  he  will  not,  at  first  coming  out,  be  quite  so  assiduous  as 
he  was  in  business  before  his  confinement,  to  which  he  rather  attributes  the  duration 
of  the  fit  of  the  gout. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"Queen's  Palace,  April  30th,  1802. 

"The  king  returns  to  the  lord  chancellor  the  commission,  which  he  has  signed, 
for  giving  his  assent  to  the  bills  now  prepared  for  that  purpose.  At  the  same  time 
the  king  avails  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  express  the  satisfaction  he  receives 
from  the  assurance  of  the  lord  chancellor's  gout  having  entirely  subsided.  That  a 
degree  of  lameness  and  weakness  still  remains  is  the  natural  effect  of  the  disorder, 
but  will  daily  diminish;  and  the  king,  therefore,  strongly  recommends  to  the  lord 
chancellor  the  not  coming  next  Wednesday  to  St.  James's,  but  the  coming  here  on 
Thursday  for  the  recorder's  report,  which  will  avoid  the  necessity  of  going  up  stairs ; 
and  Wednesday  is  the  first  day  of  term,  which  must  in  itself  be  a  day  of  some 
fatigue. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

On  the  4th  of  May,  1802,  Lord  Eldon  was  appointed  a  governor 
of  the  Charter  House,  in  the  room  of  Lord  Kenyon,  by  an  instrument 
under  the  seal  of  the  Charter  House,  and  the  hands  and  seals  of  six 
governors. 

The  definitive  treaty  of  peace  with  France  was  discussed  in  the 
House  of  Lords  on  the  13th  of  May,  when  Lord  Eldon  again  spoke 
in  its  defence. 

He  said  that  he  did  not  mean  to  represent  this  peace  as  a  glorious  one  for  Eng- 
land ;  but  he  trusted  that,  candidly  viewed,  it  would  be  found  to  be  as  good  a  peace 
as  was  attainable  in  reference  to  all  the  circumstances  of  it.  He  then  discussed  and 
combated  the  objections  made  by  preceding  speakers  to  the  details  of  the  treaty. 

This  must  have  been  the  speech  to  which  Lord  Eldon  was  refer- 
ring, when  he  said  to  Mrs.  Forster  a  year  or  two  before  his  death, — 

"After  all,  Mary,  I  think  I  am  wonderful,  considering  how  much 
I  have  gone  through;  for  mine  has  been  no  easy  life.  I  will  tell  you 


220  LIFE  OF  LORD 

what  once  happened  to  me.  I  was  ill  wTith  the  gout ;  it  was  in  my 
feet,  so  I  was  carried  into  my  carriage,  and  from  it  I  was  carried  into 
my  court.  There  I  remained  all  the  day,  and  delivered  an  arduous 
judgment.  In  the  evening  I  was  carried  straight  from  my  court  to 
the  House  of  Lords :  there  I  sat  until  two  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
when  some  of  the  lords  came  and  whispered  to  me  that  I  was  ex- 
pected to  speak.  I  told  them  I  really  could  not,  I  was  ill,  and  I 
could  not  stand ;  but  they  still  urged,  and  at  last  I  hobbled,  in  some 
way  or  other,  with  their  assistance,  to  the  place  from  which  I  usually 
addressed  the  House.  It  was  an  important  question,  the  peace  of 
Amiens: — I  forgot  my  gout,  and  spoke  for  two  hours.  Well,  the 
House  broke  up,  I  was  carried  home,  and  at  six  in  the  morning  I 
prepared  to  go  to  bed.  My  poor  left  leg  had  just  got  in,  when  I  recol- 
lected I  had  important  papers  to  look  over,  and  that  I  had  not  had 
time  to  examine  them  ;  so  I  pulled  my  poor  left  leg  out  of  bed,  put 
on  my  clothes,  and  went  to  my  study.  I  did  examine  the  papers ; 
they  related  to  the  recorder's  report,  which  had  to  be  heard  that 
day ;  I  was  again  carried  into  court,  where  I  had  to  deliver  another 
arduous  judgment,  again  went  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  it  was  not 
till  the  middle  of  the  second  night  that  I  got  into  bed.  These  are 
hard  trials  to  a  man's  constitution." 

This  little  narrative  still  further  and  more  strongly,  although  but 
incidentally,  evinces  the  anxious  vigilance  of  Lord  Eldon  respecting 
capital  convictions. 

Political  affairs  wore  now  a  serene  aspect,  and,  except  the  discus- 
sions on  the  treaty  of  peace,  there  was  no  public  matter  of  any  con- 
siderable interest.  On  the  28th  of  June,  the  session  was  closed  by  a 
speech  from  his  majesty  in  person,  and  on  the  following  day  the  first 
Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom  was  dissolved. 

The  valuable  living  of  Foston,  which  is  in  the  gift  of  the  great 
seal,  becoming  vacant  about  this  time,  was  offered  by  the  chancellor 
to  his  old  friend  Mr.  Swire.  Nothing  can  better  prove  how  well  he 
deserved  such  a  preferment  than  the  reasons  he  gave  for  declining  it. 

(Mr.  Swire  to  Lord  Eldm.*) — (Extract.) 

"Melsonby,  Aug.  3d,  1802. 
"My  Lord, 

"I  am  wholly  at  a  loss  for  words  to  express  the  obligation  I  feel  myself  under,  for 
your  abundant  kindness  and  goodness  to  me.  The  very  gracious  and  flattering  man- 
ner in  which  you  have  made  me  the  offer  of  a  very  valuable  living  has  almost  over- 
powered me.  I  was  not  surprised  that  you  should  think  of  an  old  friend,  but  I  could 
hardly  expect  (hat  you  should  be  so  attentive  to  him  as  you  have  been.  What  return 
can  I  make  for  this  mark  of  your  esteem  for  me  1 — none,  but  saying  from  my  heart 
that  I  sincerely  thank  you.  Till  I  was  favoured  with  your  lordship's  letter,  I  did  not 
know  there  was  such  a  place  as  Foston  upon  earth:  I  was  equally  ignorant  about 
Kirkby-Underdale:  nor  do  I  know  the  names  of  any  livings  in  your  patronage  as 
chancellor,  except  Middleton-Tvas  and  Barningham : — so  little  self-interest  had  I  in 
so  anxiously  wishing  to  see  you  promoted  to  the  high  and  honourable  office  you  now 
hold.  I  have  looked  into  Bacon's  '  Liber  Regis,'  and  Jefferys's  map  of  this  county, 
and,  by  their  united  help,  I  have  found  out  Foston;  and  I  think  I  have  discovered 
that  its  distance  from  Melsonby  is  more  than  is  allowed  by  law,  and  but  just  so. 
However,  I  am  so  desirous  of  preserving  my  peace  of  mind,  that  I  will  make  no  undue 
stretch  ;  and,  therefore,  I  must,  on  that  score,  refuse  your  gracious  offer.  Indeed,  had 
it  been  within  the  permitted  distance,  I  should  have  wished  to  have  declined  the 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  221 

acceptance  of  your  favour,  unless  it  had  been  considerably  nearer  to  this  place  than 
it  is:  for  I  could  not  have  been  happy  to  possess  a  living,  where  I  could  not  frequently 
have  performed  some  of  the  important  duties  of  a  priest.  I  can  truly  say  with  Dr. 
Johnson,  that  I  cannot  think  of  shearing  the  sheep  which  1  cannot  feed." 

A  note  from  George  III.  addressed  to  the  chancellor,  who  this 
year  extended  his  sittings  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Hall  to  the  latter  part  of 
August,  attests  the  constant  zeal  of  his  majesty  for  the  Protestant 
church : — 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"  Wey  mouth,  August  14th,  1802. 

"  Yesterday  the  king  received  the  lord  chancellor's  letter.  He  trusts  that  the  fatigue 
of  sitting  in  this  warm  weather  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Hall  has  not  proved  so  inconvenient 
as  might  have  been  expected.  The  king  is  much  pleased  at  Dr.  Ridley's  being  placed 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  His  being  of  the  family  of  so  celebrated  a  man  as  the  bishop 
that  bore  that  name,  in  addition  to  his  connection  with  the  lord  chancellor,  very  pro- 
perly entitles  him  to  that  situation. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

The  condition  and  legal  rights  of  foreigners  residing  in  England, 
with  reference  particularly  to  the  consular  government  then  recently 
established  in  France,  had  become,  in  this  year,  a  matter  of  some 
embarrassment  to  ministers.  The  following  letter  to  Lord  Eldon 
from  the  first  Earl  of  Liverpool,  the  father  of  the  nobleman  who  was 
so  long  first  minister  of  the  crown,  throw's  some  useful  light  upon  the 
general  and  often  recurring  question  of  the  country's  rights  and  duties 
as  to  aliens : — 

"  Addiscombe  Place,  August  24th,  1802. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  By  a  paper  I  received  yesterday  from  my  son,  I  find  it  is  the  opinion  of  his 
majesty's  servants,  that  the  Alien  Act  will  not  authorize  them  to  send  the  French  emi- 
grants, or  any  foreigners,  out  of  this  country,  unless  they  are  supposed  to  be  danger- 
ous, from  their  conduct  or  political  principles,  to  the  internal  tranquillity  of  this  king 
dom.  I  do  not  mean  to  contend  against  so  high  authority,  with  respect  to  the  con- 
struction that  is  to  be  given  to  this  law.  I  was  not  present  at  any  of  the  meetings  or 
in  Parliament,  when  it  was  under  contemplation;  and  it  is  possible  that  the  motive 
for  passing  it  was  principally  that  before  stated;  and  yet,  if  such  is  the  true  interpre- 
tation of  this  law,  I  do  not  see  by  what  legal  authority  you  can  oblige  these  emigrants 
to  leave  the  kingdom,  or  even  to  reside  in  any  particular  part  of  it,  with  a  view  of 
preventing  any  intercourse  they  may  carry  on,  which  may  give  just  offence  to  neigh- 
bouring governments.  If  you  had  a  right  of  sending  them  out  of  the  kingdom,  you 
might  certainly  require,  as  a  condition  for  permission  to  remain  in  it,  that  they  should 
confine  their  residence  to  some  particular  county  or  district.  I  am  sensible  that 
several  of  them  receive  pensions ;  and  that  you  may  annex  as  a  condition  on  which 
alone  they  shall  continue  to  receive  these  pensions,  that  they  shall  reside  where  you 
please  to  direct.  But  I  confess  I  feel  that  this  sort  of  compulsion  has  something  un- 
generous in  it:  and  I  should  not  like  to  rest  my  power  and  influence  over  these 
unhappy  men  singly  on  this  circumstance.  Besides,  a  great  number  of  them  do  not 
receive  pensions ;  and  these  are  of  the  most  dangerous  description ;  they  live  by 
their  wits,  that  is,  by  inventing  and  propagating  reports  offensive  to  that  government 
which  has  driven  them  out  of  their  country;  and  it  is  to  these  that  we  must  ascribe 
the  unpleasant  discussion,  in  which  we  are  at  present  engaged  with  the  French 
government.  I  observe,  however,  that  it  is  the  intention  of  his  majesty's  ministers 
to  exercise  some  sort  of  police  over  these  French  emigrants,  and  yet  I  cannot  con- 
ceive on  what  legal  authority  such  exercise  can  be  founded  or  justified;  so  that  the 
determination  taken  by  his  majesty's  ministers  appears  to  me,  in  its  different  parts,  to 
be  contradictory  and  inconsistent  with  itself. 

If  I  had  been  able  to  come  to  town  and  return  again  the  same  day,  I  would  have 
waited  on  your  lordship  to  talk  to  you  on  this  important  subject,  for  I  am  certain  the 
business  now  under  consideration  will  not  end  without  some  serious  consequences, 


222  LIFE  OF  LORD 

and  that  it  will  ultimately  be  an  object  of  discussion  in  the  two  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment. It  behoves  us,  therefore,  to  found  our  measures,  and  every  step  that  we  may 
take,'on  principles  that  we  can  fully  justify  to  the  people  of  this  country  and  to  the 
rest  of  mankind.  It  appears  to  me  that  the  first  consul  is  really  mad,  and  that  the 
French  emigrants  are,  on  the  other  hand,  foolish.  They  are  the  true  parties  in  this 
business;  but  this  country  will  suffer  and  never  beat  rest  till  the  contest  is  at  an  end. 
"I  have  the  pleasure  to  tell  you  that  my  general  health  is  tolerably  good.  True  it 
is  I  am  weak,  but  my  trunk  does  not  appear  as  yet  to  have  any  mortal  disease,  though 
my  arms  and  legs,  that  is,  my  branches,  are  withered. 

"I  hope  your  lordship  will  excuse  the  trouble  which  I  now  give  you;  but  as  the 
principal  point  of  this  letter  relates  to  the  exercise  of  legal  authority,  on  which  your 
lordship  is  the  best  judge,  I  could  not  deny  myself  the  satisfaction  of  writing  it  to 
you. 

"  I  am,  with  the  sincerest  regard, 
"  My  dear  lord, 

"  Your  faithful  humble  servant, 

"  LIVERPOOL." 

The  two  following  notes  from  the  king  to  Lord  Eldon  furnish 
further  illustrations  of  his  majesty's  anxious  and  minute  attention 
to  those  matters  of  public  business  which  had  to  pass  through  his 
hands  :  — 

(King  George  III  to  Lord  Eldon.}—  (Extract.) 

"  Windsor,  Nov.  13th,  J802. 

"The  king  returns  the  commission  for  opening  the  Parliament,  which  he  has 
signed.  Having  had  the  curiosity  of  reading  the  commission,  have  found  a  mistake, 
the  insertion  of  George,  Earl  of  Leicester,  instead  of  William,  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  as 
lord  steward  of  the  household,  which  can  easily  be  corrected  by  the  lord  chancellor 
ordering  this  change  of  names,  though  the  king  has  signed  the  commission. 


(King  George  HL  to  Lord  Eldon.)—  (Extract.) 

"Windsor,  Dec.  29th,  1802. 

"The  king  returns  the  commission,  having  signed  it.  He  trusts  the  bill  of  inquiry 
into  the  civil  departments  of  the  navy  is  materially  amended  by  the  alterations 
effected  by  the  lord  chancellor,  and  that  the  evils  are  obviated  which  might  have  easily 
arisen  from  so  delicate  a  business  being  framed  by  gentlemen  of  the  navy,  instead  of 
those  conversant,  from  education  as  well  as  practice,  in  the  nature  of  the  laws  of  this 
kingdom. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

The  newly-elected  Parliament,  which  had  been  opened  by  the  king 
in  person  on  the  23d  of  November,  continued  its  sitting  till  Christ- 
mas. On  the  15th  of  December,  in  a  debate  on  the  malt  tax,  the  Earl 
of  Suffolk,  while  he  praised  the  existing  government,  imputed  much 
blame  to  the  antecedent  ministry  for  their  whole  conduct  of  the  war, 
and  particularly  for  having  confined,  during  long  periods,  persons 
whom  they  suspected  of  treasonable  practices,  but  whom  they  never 
brought  to  trial.  Upon  this  the  lord  chancellor,  with  great  warmth, 
declared  that 

He  would  sooner  suffer  death  upon  the  spot  than  hear  the  conduct  of  the  late  ad- 
ministration aspersed,  in  this  respect,  without  confutation.  If  they  were  criminal  in 
this,  he  was  as  criminal  as  they:  and  the  only  reason  why  a  different  policy  now  pre- 
vailed was,  that  the  circumstances  of  the  country  were  now  different.  He  vindicated 
the  conduct  of  the  war  and  the  arrangement  of  the  peace. 

When  Parliament  re-  assembled  after  the  vacation,  the  ministers 
proposed  and  carried  a  continuance  of  the  act  of  1797,  by  which  the 
Bank  of  England  had  been  restricted  from  paying  its  notes  in  specie. 
On  that  subject  Lord  Eldon  received  this  letter  from  the  king: 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  223 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"  Windsor,  Feb.  2~th,  1803. 

"The  king  has,  with  great  satisfaction,  signed  the  commission  for  passing  the  bill 
to  restrain  the  Bank  of  England  from  paying  cash,  as  he  is  convinced  of  the  utility 
of  the  measure,  and  ardently  hopes  it  may  be  prolonged  the  next  year;  or,  if  the  situ- 
ation of  public  affairs  should  at  that  time  prove  more  favourable,  that  the  bank  will 
at  least  be  restrained  from  paying  cash  above  a  certain  proportion  of  each  payment 
it  may  have  to  issue. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

The  ministers  now  found  themselves  perplexed  by  an  extensive 
military  preparation  in  the  ports  of  France  and  Holland,  ostensibly 
directed  to  colonial  objects,  but  obviously  suggesting  the  necessity  of 
practicable  measures  for  the  defence  of  the  British  empire.  A  message 
from  the  crown  on  this  important  subject  was  delivered  to  both  Houses 
of  Parliament  on  the  8th  of  March:  and  on  the  16th  of  May,  another 
message  announced  the  termination  of  all  pacific  relations  between 
England  and  France  and  the  mutual  recall  of  their  ambassadors. 
These  events  having  been  foreseen  for  several  months,  the  ministry, 
who  seem  to  have  been  conscious  that  they  were  not  of  a  constitution 
for  warlike  undertakings,  made  overtures  to  obtain  the  assistance  of 
Mr.  Pitt ;  but  he,  though  not  unwilling  to  lend  his  aid  for  the  con- 
struction of  such  a  government  as  would  be,  in  his  judgment,  a  really 
efficient  one,  showed  no  disposition  to  resume  office  as  a  mere  prop 
to  the  existing  ministry.  The  negotiation,  therefore,  terminated  ab- 
ruptly, and  without  practical  results ;  and  Mr.  Addington  was  still 
first  minister  when  the  session  of  Parliament  terminated  on  he  12th 
of  August,  1803. 


224  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

1803—1804. 

Disturbances  in  Ireland. — Volunteers. — Relapse  of  George  III.:  Inquiries  in  the 
House  of  Lords:  Personal  communications  of  the  chancellor  with  the  king: 
Extracts  from  the  chancellor's  private  minutes  of  the  examinations  of  the  king's 
physicians:  Treatment  of  the  king:  His  conduct  during  his  illness. — Debates  on 
volunteer  force:  Courteous  retort  upon  Lord  Spencer. — Lord  Eldon's  defence  of 
law  officers :  Of  Lord  Chancellor  Redesdale. — Offers  of  service  from  Irish  militia. — 
Letters  from  Lord  Chancellor  Redesdale  on  the  state  and  government  of  Ireland. 

MEANWHILE,  in  Ireland,  occurrences  had  taken  place  which  evinced 
but  too  plainly  that  the  temper  of  that  country  had  been  either  addi- 
tionally heated,  or,  at  least,  not  effectually  cooled,  by  the  union  with 
Great  Britain.  In  the  counties  of  Limerick,  Tipperary  and  Water- 
ford,  disturbances  of  more  than  ordinary  violence  had  broken  out, 
which,  however,  being  mostly  of  an  agrarian  rather  than  of  a  political 
character,  had  been  put  down  in  the  January  of  this  year,  by  a  special 
commission  for  the  instant  trial  of  the  insurgents.  But  as  the  differ- 
ences between  England  and  France  became  wider,  the  French  began 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  unquiet  spirit  of  the  Irish  people,  with  the 
purpose  of  inveigling  them  into  a  movement  for  the  forcible  severance 
of  the  union.  Animated  by  the  hope  of  French  assistance,  a  young 
gentleman,  named  Robert  Emmett,  made  an  attempt,  on  the  23d  of 
July,  1803,  at  the  head  of  an  undisciplined  force,  to  seize  the  city  and 
castle  of  Dublin.  The  outbreak  was  speedily  suppressed  by  two 
small  parties  of  the  21st  regiment;  but  not  till  after  Lord  Kilwarden, 
the  Chief  Justice  of  Ireland,  had  been  dragged  from  his  carriage  and 
murdered  in  the  street.  On  the  28th,  a  message  from  his  majesty 
was  brought  down  to  both  Houses,  notifying  that  a  spirit  of  insur 
rection  had  manifested  itself  in  Ireland,  and  recommending  to  Parlia- 
ment the  adoption  of  measures  for  its  suppression.  On  the  same 
evening,  two  bills  were  introduced  into  the  House  of  Commons,  one 
for  enabling  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  to  try  by  martial  law  any 
prisoners  who  should  be  taken  there  in  rebellion ;  and  the  other  for 
suspending  the  Habeas  Corpus  act  in  that  kingdom.  Both  bills 
passed  through  all  their  stages  in  the  Lower  House  before  ten 
o'clock,  and  were  taken  at  once  to  the  House  of  Lords,  where  they 
were  carried  through  all  their  stages  before  eleven,  the  lord  chan- 
cellor and  Lord  Rosslyn  agreeing  that  the  standing  orders,  which 
require  distinct  days  for  certain  steps  of  every  bill,  might  be  pro- 
perly suspended,  as  they  had  been  in  former  cases  of  emergency.— 
The  king  prorogued  Parliament  from  the  throne  on  the  12th  of  Au- 
gust. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  225 

On  the  22d  of  November,  1803,  when  his  majesty  in  person 
opened  the  next  session,  the  Irish  insurrection  formed  one  of  the 
topics  of  the  royal  speech:  and,  early  in  December,  fresh  bills  were 
introduced  for  continuing  the  enactments  of  the  preceding  July.  The 
new  bills  having  passed  the  House  of  Commons,  and  been  once  read 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  the  second  reading  of  them  there,  on  the  12th 
of  December,  gave  rise  to  a  discussion,  in  which  the  lord  chancellor 
took  a  prominent  part,  enforcing  these  measures  on  account  of  the 
necessity  of  the  case  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  extent  to  which  the- 
mischief  might  have  secretly  reached.  Both  bills  were  passed. 

The  threat  of  invasion  had  very  generally  roused  the  country,  and 
volunteers  were  now  enrolled  to  the  number  of  300,000  men.  Talk- 
ing of  them  to  Mrs.  Forster,  in  his  after  life,  Lord  Eldon  said:— 

"  We  had  a  meeting  of  the  ministers,  at  the  time  of  the  French 
threat  of  invasion,  to  consider  the  propriety  of  allowing  volunteer 
regiments :  and  the  ministers  avowed  that  they  were  afraid  of  incur- 
ring such  an  expense.  When  I  had  to  give  my  opinion,  I  said,  'Do 
as  you  please,  but  if  these  men  do  not  volunteer  for  you,  they  will 
against  you.'  The  volunteers  saved  the  country:  Buonaparte  ac- 
knowledged it.  I  think  the  finest  sight  I  ever  beheld  was  the  great 
review  in  Hyde  Park  before  the  king,  George  the  Third.  The  king, 
in  passing,  addressed  Tom  Erskine,  who  was  colonel,  asking  him  the 
name  of  his  corps.  He  answered,  '  The  Devil's  Own.'  The  Lin- 
coln's Inn  Volunteers  always  went  by  the  name  of  the  Devil's  In- 
vincibles." 

Parliament  having  re-assembled  after  the  Christmas  recess,  a  bill 
was  introduced  by  government  in  the  beginning  of  February,  1804, 
for  consolidating  and  amending  the  various  laws  relating  to  the  corps 
of  volunteers.  While  this  bill  was  pending  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
the  public  became  aware  that  the  king's  mind  was  again  in  a  disturbed 
state.  On  the  27th  of  February,  the  order  of  the  day  being  moved 
for  the  second  reading  of  the  bill,  some  discussion  arose  about  his 
majesty's  competency  to  discharge  the  public  business.  The  inqui- 
ries of  the  opposition  were  answered  by  a  guarded  assurance  from 
Mr.  Addington,  that  "  there  was  not,  at  that  time,  any  necessary  sus- 
pension of  such  royal  functions  as  it  might  be  necessary  for  his 
majesty  then  to  discharge."'  On  the  1st  of  March,  the  same  subject  was 
mooted  in  the  Upper  House  by  Lord  King,  and  met  by  Lord  Hawkes- 
bury  with  a  like  assurance.  The  fact  appears  to  have  been,  that  the 
king  at  that  time  was  in  an  excited  and  hurried  state,  but  was  not  so 
far  disordered  as  to  be  unfit  for  transacting  formal  business,  which  was 
all  that  public  occasions  just  then  required  him  to  go  through.  Lord 
King  having  intimated  that  a  full  explanation  was  especially  to  be 
expected  from  the  lord  chancellor,  by  reason  of  the  peculiar  respon- 
sibility arising  from  his  position  and  official  relation  to  the  sove- 
reign, 

Lord  Eldon  assured  the  House  that  he  had  considered,  and  deeply,  his  duty  at  this 
trying  crisis.     He  was  aware  that  while  he  w  as  bound,  on  the  one  hand,  to  keep  con- 
stantly in  view  what  was  due  from  him  in  point  of  delicacy  to  his  sovereign,  on  the 
VOL.  I. — 15 


226  LIFE  OF  LORD 

other  he  ought  never  to  forget  that  he  had  a  duty  to  perform  to  the  legislature  and  the 
public.  Anxious  that  there  should  be  no  misapprehension,  he  declared  that  at  that 
moment  thc-re  was  no  suspension  of  the  royal  functions. 

On  the  9th  of  March,  the  royal  assent  being  about  to  be  given  by 
commission  to  several  bills,  the  inquiries  as  to  his  majesty's  state  of 
health  were  renewed  by  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  who  observed  that  the 
reports  of  the  physicians  did  not  appear  to  hold  out  hopes  of  a  speedy 
recovery,  and  added  that  his  doubts  were  such  as  induced  him  to  call 
upon  the  lord  chancellor  for  further  information. 

Lord  Eldon  stated,  that  in  this  momentous  matter  he  had  proceeded  not  only  with 
deliberation  and  caution,  but  even  with  fear  and  trembling;  that  not  satisfied  with 
the  reports  and  assurances  of  the  medical  attendants,  he  had  thought  it  right  to  obtain 
a  personal  interview  with  the  sovereign;  and  that  at  that  interview,  due  discussion 
had  taken  place  as  to  the  bills  offered  for  the  royal  assent,  which  had  thereupon  been, 
fully  expressed.  "I  would  sooner,"  said  he,  "suffer  my  right  hand  to  be  severed 
from  my  body  than  act  in  such  an  instance  upon  light  or  superficial  grounds;  and  I 
have  no  hesitation  to  aver,  that  the  result  of  all  which  took  place  on  the  occasion 
amply  justifies  me  in  announcing  his  majesty's  assent  to  the  bills  specified  in  the 
royal  commission.  I  know  and  feel  with  gratitude  my  obligations  to  the  best  of  sove- 
reigns, and  to  his  person  I  bear  the  warmest  affection.  But  I  can  most  conscien- 
tiously say,  that  no  considerations  whatever,  not  even  those  to  which  I  have  alluded, 
shall  ever  induce  me  to  break  that  sacred  covenant  which  I  have  made  with  myself, 
not  to  suffer  that  any  thing  shall  warp  my  judgment,  or  bear  me  from  the  rule  of 
strict  duty  and  rectitude.  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  high  responsibility  under  which  I 
stand,  and  with  reference  to  which  I  act  on  this  occasion." 

The  interview  with  the  king,  which  is  referred  to  in  this  explana- 
tion, had  taken  place  on  the  morning  of  the  same  day.  Lord  Eldon 
has  left  this  record  of  it,  in  his  Anecdote  Book : — 

"  During  one  of  his  majesty's  indispositions,  and  when  there  was 
a  doubt  whether  he  was  sufficiently  recovered  to  make  it  fit  to  take 
his  royal  sign  manual  to  a  commission  for  passing  acts  of  Parliament, 
the  time  approached,  when,  if  the  mutiny  bills  were  not  renewed  and 
passed,  the  establishments  of  the  army  and  navy,  in  the  midst  of  war, 
must  have  broken  up.  It  became,  therefore,  absolutely  necessary  to 
have  his  royal  sign  manual  to  acts  for  continuing  those  establishments. 
The  chancellor  is  the  minister  responsible  for  that.  I  waited  upon 
his  majesty,  and  carried  with  me  the  commission,  and  a  brief  abstract 
of  the  several  intended  acts,  but  in  much  more  of  detail  than  the 
previous  statements  made  upon  such  occasions.  I  began  reading  that 
abstract, — a  caution  not  usual  when  the  king  was  well ;  and  he  said, 
'My  lord,  you  are  cautious.'  I  entreated  his  majesty  to  allow  that, 
under  the  then  circumstances.  'Oh!'  he  said,  'you  are  certainly 
right  in  that,  but  you  should  be  correct  as  well  as  cautious.'  I  said 
I  was  not  conscious  that  I  was  not  correct.  '  No,'  said  he,  'you  are 
not ;  for  if  you  will  look  into  the  commission  which  you  have  brought 
me  to  sign,  you  will  see  that  I  there  state  that  I  have  fully  considered 
the  bills  proposed  to  receive  my  sign  manual ;  to  be  correct,  there- 
fore, I  should  have  the  bills  to  peruse  and  consider.'  I  stated  to  him 
that  he  never  had  had  the  bills  whilst  I  had  been  chancellor,  and 
that  I  did  not  know  that  he  had  ever  had  the  bills.  He  said,  during 
a  part  of  his  reign  he  had  always  had  them  until  Lord  Thurlow  had 
ceased  to  bring  them ;  and  the  expression  his  majesty  used  was,  that 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  227 

Lord  Thurlow  had  said  it  was  nonsense,  his  giving  himself  the  trouble 
to  read  them.  I  said  his  majesty  had  satisfied  me  that  I  had  used 
caution  enough,  took  the  sign  manual,  and  went  to  the  House  of 
Lords;  and,  when  about  passing  the  commission,  Lord  Fitzwilliam 
rose  and  said,  '  I  wish  to  ask  whether  the  chancellor  declares  his 
majesty  is%equal  to  the  act  of  signing  the  commission  with  full  know- 
ledge upon  the  subject,'^  to  that  effect.  I  answered,  'Your  lord- 
ship will  see  the  commission  executed  immediately.' 

"  I  have  committed  this  to  paper,  having  been  much  abused  on  ac- 
count of  this  transaction,  and  for  the  purpose  of  stating  that  it  was  my 
determination,  if  I  thought  his  majesty  sufficiently  well  as  an  indivi- 
dual to  give  his  assent,  to  take  the  royal  sign  manual  to  the  commis- 
sion, and  execute  it  without  making  any  observation;  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  I  did  not  think  him  so  well  as  an  individual, — inasmuch  as  the 
competency  of  the  king,  as  king,  was  what  the  law  authorized  me  to 
consider  as  belonging  to  him,  notwithstanding  his  indisposition,  I  de- 
termined to  take  the  royal  sign  manual  to  the  commission,  and,  after 
executing  it,  to  state  to  the  House  in  what  condition  of  his  majesty  I 
had  taken  this  step,  and  to  throw  myself  on  Parliament's  consideration 
of  my  case,  and  my  having  so  acted,  in  order,  in  a  most  perilous  pe- 
riod, to  prevent  the  establishments,  necessary  for  the  defence  and, 
indeed,  the  existence  of  the  country,  from  going  to  pieces. 

"Many  thought  I  acted  too  boldly  in  this  proceeding;  but  I  could 
not  bring  myself  to  think  that  I  ought  to  countenance  the  notion  that 
the  king's  state  of  mind,  considering  him  as  an  individual,  was  such 
as  I,  in  my  conscience,  did  not  believe  it  to  be  ;  and  I  did  think  that  it 
was  my  duty  to  expose  myself  to  all  that  might  happen,  rather  than 
give  a  false  impression  of  the  actual  state  of  my  sovereign  and  royal 
master  to  his  people. 

"  God  grant  that  no  future  chancellor  may  go  through  the  same  dis- 
tressing scenes,  or  be  exposed  to  the  dangerous  responsibility  which 
I  went  through  and  was  exposed  to  during  the  indispositions  of  my 
sovereign !  My  own  attachment  to  him  supported  me  through  those 
scenes.  Such  and  so  cordial  was  the  love  and  affection  his  people 
bore  to  him,  that  a  servant,  meaning  well  and  placed  amidst  great 
difficulties,  would  have  been  pardoned  for  much,  if  he  had  had  occa- 
sion for  indemnity. 

"  When  I  went  to  take  the  king's  sign  manual,  some  other  minis- 
ters wanted  it  in  their  department.  They  sent  the  papers  to  me  in- 
stead of  coming  themselves  to  support  me  by  their  arts.  I  refused  to 
tender  any  of  them  to  the  king." 

The  cabinet,  of  course,  had,  from  lime  to  time,  continued  their 
examinations  of  the  physicians.  The  extracts  which  follow  are  from 
private  minutes,  in  Lord  Eldon's  own  handwriting,  of  the  examina- 
tions of  27th  February  and  5th  March,  1804. 

07th  February,  1804. 

The  chancellor  having  intimated  that  he  should  not  think  it  his  duty  to  take  the 
king's  sign  manual  without  ascertaining  that  his  majesty  understood  the  effect  of  the 
instrument  to  which  his  sign  manual  was  required: — 


228  LIFE  °F  LORD 

Q.  Are  his  majesty's  physicians  of  opinion  that  he  is  cimpetent  to  do  an  act,  with 
respect  to  which  ft  would  be  necessary  for  the  chancellor,  previous  to  his  majesty's 
doing  the  act,  to  receive  such  satisfaction? 

A.  We  think  him  perfectly  competent  to  do  an  act  so  explained  and  understood. 

Q.  Are  you  prepared  to  express  an  opinion  of  the  probable  duration  of  the  king's 
illness] 

A.  by  Sir  Lucas  Pepys. — My  opinion  is  that  it  will  not  be  of  long  duration. 
t,  *  *  *  *  *  '     * 

By  Dr.  Simmons. — I  think  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  it  will  be  of  short  dura- 
tion, particularly  if  his  majesty  is  not  too  soon  hurried  with  company  and  business. 
I  think  him  perfectly  competent  to  business  as  before  described,  at  present. 

Q.  In  qualifying  your  opinion  as  to  the  nature  of  the  business  which  his  majesty 
might  be  called  upon  to  execute,  did  you  mean  to  express  a  doubt  of  his  majesty's 
capacity  to  exercise  his  judgment,  at  this  time,  upon  such  points  as  might  be  submitted 
lo  him,  or  your  opinion  of  the  expediency  of  resorting  to  him  to  perform  any  acts 
except  such  as  have  been  described  in  the  former  question! 

A.  I  think  his  majesty  is  perfectly  competent;  but  if  the  point  led  to  long  argument 
or  fatiguing  discussion,  I  think  the  experiment  would  be  imprudent. 

All  the  physicians  entirely  concur  with  Dr.  S. 

******* 

5th  March,  1804. 

Q.  His  majesty  having  transacted  business  with  his  Parliament  since  his  illness 
by  commission  and  message,  do  his  majesty's  physicians  continue  to  think  that  his 
majesty  is  able  to  transact  business  with  his  Parliament,  in  like  manner,  by  commis- 
sion and  message,  in  the  exercise  of  a  sufficient  and  unrestrained  judgment? 

A.  The  physicians  are  of  opinion  that  his  majesty  is  fully  competent  to  transact 
business  with  his  Parliament  by  commission  and  message. 

The  next  two  extracts  are  from  Lord  Eldon's  Anecdote  Book : — 
"  In  one  of  his  majesty  George  III.'s  illnesses"  (1804)  "when  he 
was  at  Buckingham  House,  it  was  conceived  to  be  my  duty  as  chan- 
cellor to  call  at  that  house  every  day.  This  was  constantly  done,  to 
the  interruption  of  the  business  of  my  court  to  a  great  extent,  for  which 
the  public  opinion  made  no  allowance.  Upon  one  day  when  I  went 
to  make  my  call  of  duty,  Dr.  Simmons,  the  medical  attendant  con- 
stantly there,  represented  to  me  the  embarrassment  he  was  exposed  to, 
being  persuaded  that  if  his  majesty  could  have  a  walk  frequently 
round  the  garden  behind  the  house,  it  would  be  of  the  most  essential 
benefit  to  him ;  that,  if  he  took  his  walk  with  the  doctor,  or  any  of  his 
attendants,  he  was  overlooked  from  the  windows  of  Grosvenor  Place, 
and  reports  were  circulated  very  contrary  to  the  truth  respecting  his 
majesty's  mental  health;  that,  on  the  other  hand,  his  majesty's  family 
.  were  afraid  of  accompanying  him ;  and  that  he,  the  doctor,  did  not 
know  how  to  act,  as  the  walk  was  of  vast  importance  to  his  majesty's 
recovery.  It  was  to  me  plain  that  he  wished  that  I  should  offer  to 
attend  his  majesty,  and  walk  with  him  in  the  garden.  I  offered  to 
do  so  if  he  thought  it  likely  to  be  useful  to  the  king.  He  then  went 
into  the  next  room,  where  the  king  was,  and  I  heard  him  say,  c  Sir, 
the  chancellor  is  come  to  take  a  walk  with  your  majesty,  if  your  ma- 
jesty pleases  to  allow  it.'  <  With  all  my  heart,'  I  overheard  the  king 
say,  and  he  called  for  his  hat  and  cane.  We  walked  two  or  three 
times  round  Buckingham  House  gardens.  There  was  at  first  a  mo- 
mentary hurry  and  incoherence  in  his  majesty's  talk,  but  this  did  not 
endure  two  minutes ;  during  the  rest  of  the  walk  there  was  not  the 
slightest  aberration  in  his  majesty's  conversation,  and  he  gave  me  the 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  229 

history  of  every  administration  in  his  reign.  When  we  returned  into 
the  house,  his  majesty,  laying  down  his  hat  and  cane,  placed  his  head 
upon  my  shoulder,  and  burst  into  tears ;  and,  after  recovering  himself, 
bowed  me  out  of  the  room  in  his  usual  manner.  Dr.  Simmons  told 
me  afterwards  that  this  had  been  of  infinite  use  towards  his  recovery. 
It  is  a  curious  circumstance  that,  walking  down  St.  James's  Park  after 
I  left  Buckingham  House,  I  found  that  it  had  been  asserted,  that  in 
that  very  morning  his  majesty  had  been  seen  walking  round  the  Buck- 
ingham House  gardens,  and  that  he  was  so  very  furious  that  the  at- 
tendants employed  by  Dr.  Simmons  had  been  obliged  by  violence  to 
carry  him  into  the  house.  This  was  one  of  the  falsehoods  which,  for 
political  purposes,  were  constantly  fabricated  about  the  poor  king. 
Simmons  assured  me  that  there  was  not  the  semblance  of  truth  in  it." 

"  When  he  was  recovering,  but  not  entirely  recovered,  upon  my 
visiting  him,  as  I  did  every  morning,  he  took  out  a  watch  from  a 
drawer,  and  said  he  had  worn  it  for  twenty  years,  and  desired  me  to 
accept  it  and  wear  it  for  his  sake.  I  declined  to  accept  it.  At  first 
he  was  extremely  angry,  and  asked  with  much  earnestness  why  I  did 
not  obey  him.  I  said  that  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  be  of  any  use 
to  his  majesty,  if,  under  the  then  circumstances,  I  accepted  any  thing 
from  him.  He  wept." 

In  relating  this  circumstance  to  Mrs.  Forster,  Lord  Eldon  added, 
"  I  told  him  that  there  were  people  who  envied  me  every  mark  of  my 
sovereign's  favour,  and  who  would  give  an  unfavourable  construction 
to  my  receiving  any  thing  from  him  at  that  time ;  and,  therefore,  greatly 
as  I  valued  his  gifts,  I  thought,  under  present  circumstances,  it  was 
best  to  return  the  watch  with  its  chain  and  seal.  The  king  took  them 
and  said  nothing. 

"  Some  time  afterwards,  nine  or  ten  months  afterwards,  I  was  sit- 
ting in  the  Chancery  Court,  when  a  red  box  and  key  to  it  were  deli- 
vered to  me.  I  opened  it,  and  found  the  identical  watch  and  seal, 
and  a  letter  from  the  king."  This  letter,  after  mentioning  some  other 
matters,  proceeds  thus : — 

"  Windsor  Caotle,  January  21st,  1S03. 

"The  king  takes  this  opportunity  of  forwarding  to  the  lord  chancellor  the  watch 
he  mentioned  the  last  spring;  it  has  undergone  a  thorough  cleaning,  and  been  left 
with  the  maker  many  months,  that  the  accurateness  of  its  going  might  be  ascertained. 
Facing  10  minutes  there  is  a  spring,  if  pressed  with  the  nail,  will  open  the  glass  for 
setting  the  watch;  or,  turning  the  watch,  pressing  the  back  edge  facing  50  minutes, 
the  case  opens  for  winding  up. 

u  GEORGE  R." 

The  Anecdote  Book  says,  "  The  seal  is  a  curious  one.  It  contains 
a  figure  of  religion  looking  up  to  heaven,  and  a  figure  of  justice  with 
no  bandage  over  the  eyes,  his  majesty  stating  that  justice  should  be 
bold  enough  to  look  the  world  in  the  face.  The  motto  was,  '  His 
Dirige  Te.'  It  happened  that  I  sent  a  letter  to  my  old  excellent 
friend,  Dr.  Swire,  of  Melsonby,  sealed  with  this  seal.  He  showed  it 
to  his  friend  and  neighbour  Dr.  Zouch,  who  had  refused  a  bishopric. 
Dr.  Zouch  preached  an  assize  sermon  soon  afterwards  in  Durham 
cathedral,  which  had  a  passage  in  it  representing  justice  without  a 


230  LIFE  OF  LORD 

bandage  over  the  eyes.  The  sermon  was  published,  and  several 
reviews  of  the  time  stated  that  they  had  hunted  all  authors,  Grecian 
and  Roman  to  discover  where  Dr.  Zouch  had  borrowed  the  hint  so  to 
describe  justice,  but  in  vain;  and  complimented  him  much  upon  a 
thought  so  new  and  so  beautiful."* 

Lord  Eldon  acknowledged  the  king's  goodness  in  these  terms : — 

"Lord  Eldon  cannot  delay  till  he  sees  your  majesty,  offering  his  most  humble  and 
grateful  acknowledgments  for  the  great  favour  which  he  has  received  from  your 
majesty.  Whilst  he  lives  he  shall  carry  about  with  him  the  valuable  token  your 
majesty  has  been  pleased  to  present  to  him  as  a  mark  of  your  majesty's  gracious 
acceptance  of  his  most  humble  services  to  his  king  and  master;  and  he  trusts  that  as 
long  as  Providence  shall  permit  him  to  have  any  descendants,  they  will  never  fail  to 
cherish  and  value,  as  he  does,  this  proof  of  your  majesty's  great  kindness  to  your 
subject  and  servant.  His  humble  wish  is,  that  he,  and  those  descendants,  may  be 
enabled  to  direct  their  conduct,  in  all  time  to  come,  as  your  majesty  has  now  been 
pleased  to  prescribe,  by  the  dictates  of  religion,  and  by  the  rules  of  that  justice  which, 
not  being  afraid  to  throw  the  bandages  from  its  eyes,  will  never  hesitate  to  execute  its 
righteous  purposes  at  the  hazard  of  all  the  consequences  which  may  be  within  its 
view." 

The  king,  during  one  of  his  illnesses,  complained  to  Lord  Eldon, 
who  related  the  story  to  Mr.  Farrer,  that  a  man  in  the  employ  of  some 
of  his  physicians,  had  knocked  him  down.  "  When  I  got  up  again," 
added  the  king,  "  I  said  my  foot  had  slipped,  and  ascribed  my  fall  to 
that;  it  would  not  do  for  me  to  admit  that  the  king  had  been  knocked 
down  by  any  one."  Lord  Eldon  related  to  Lord  Encombe,  ttyat  the 
king  used  to  say  he  had  had  one  advantage  from  his  mental  afflic- 
tions; namely,  the  means  of  knowing  his  real  from  his  pretended 
friends. 

Both  Houses  were  now  occupied  with  the  Volunteers'  Consolida- 
tion Bill.  Lord  Carnarvon  having  questioned,  in  the  debate  of  the 
27th  of  March  1804,  the  king's  prerogative  to  array  all  classes  of  his 
subjects  in  arms  at  seasons  of  danger,  independently  of  consultation 
with  his  Parliament, 

Lord  Ellenborough  proved,  from  various  authorities,  and  particularly  from  the 
ancient  commissions  of  array,  (one  whereof  was  passed  in  the  fifth  year  of  Henry  IV., 
and  is  set  out  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Parliament  rolls,  and  recognized  as  law  by 
Lord  Coke,)  that  it  is  a  prerogative  inherent  in  the  crown,  to  require,  in  critical  cases, 
such  as  invasion  or  even  the  apprehension  of  invasion,  the  services  of  all  subjects 
capable  of  bearing  arms.  This  prerogative,  however,  would  not  involve  a  power  of 
throwing  all  classes  indiscriminately  into  the  ranks:  men  must  be  employed  accord- 
ing to  their  states,  their  habits  of  life  and  the  modes  in  which  they  might  be  most 
useful. 

Lord  Grenville  argued  that,  in  the  present  age,  this  prerogative  must  be  exercised, 
not  by  the  sovereign  acting  personally,  but  by  the  sovereign  acting  under  the  sanction 
of  Parliament. 

The  lord  chancellor,  in  admitting  the  superiority  of  a  strong  regular  army  as  com- 
pared with  a  volunteer  force,  reminded  the  House  that  such  a  body  of  regulars  as 

*  NOTK  BY  THE  PRESENT  E*ni..— It  is,  perhaps,  worthy  of  notice,  that  although  the 
watch  which  King  George  III.  gave  to  Lord  Eldon  had  the  additional  value  of  having 
been  worn  for  many  years  by  the  king  himself,  yet  the  device  of  the  seal  seems  to 
bear  some  internal  evidence  that  the  royal  donor  had  had  this  engraved  especially  for 
his  chancellor,  since  the  judgment  seat  is  clearly  a  representation  of  the  woolsack, 
and  the  scroll,  with  its  Latin  motto,  signifying,  "  Direct  thyself  by  these,"  namely,  by 
religion  and  justice,  might,  with  peculiar  propriety,  be  addressed  to  the  firbt  judge  in 
the  land. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  231 

would  have  been  at  all  equal,  in  its  efficiency,  to  the  existing  force  of  volunteers,  could 
not  have  been  raised  with  the  ease  or  rapidity  with  which  that  existing  force  had  been, 
organized.  Against  the  restrictions  with  which  Lord  Grenville  had  sought  to  qualify 
the  prerogative,  he  entered  his  most  solemn  protest;  and  argued  the  validity  of  the 
prerogative,  not  only  upon  legal  authorities,  but  upon  the  necessity  of  the  cases  to 
which  it  was  applicable,  and  the  paramount  consideration  of  the  people's  safety. 
Should  the  country  be  invaded,  and  a  landing  effected  when  Parliament  was  not 
sitting  or  not  in  being,  what  would  be  the  practical  consequences  of  the  doctrine  that 
the  prerogative  was  available  only  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  entire  legis- 
lature 1 

In  committee  on  this  bill,  5th  April, — 

He  took  occasion  to  condemn  the  practice  of  imputing  to  the  negligence  or  incapa- 
city of  the  law  officers  of  the  crown  all  the  confusion  and  inconsistency  that  appeared 
in  the  various  acts  of  Parliament  passed  from  time  to  time.  The  fact,  he  said,  fre- 
quently was,  that  a  bill,  originally  prepared  with  the  greatest  care,  underwent  so  many 
modifications  in  its  progress  through  both  the  Houses,  and  received  so  many  amend- 
ments from  what  was  called  (how  properly  he  would  not  take  upon  himself  to  say) 
the  conjunctive  wisdom  of  Parliament,  that  it  became  at  last  in  a  great  degree  inex- 
plicable. 

The  committee  on  the  bill  was  resumed  on  the  following  day, 
when 

Earl  Spencer,  upon  one  of  the  clauses  on  which  the  chancellor  had  been  arguing, 
made  some  observations  characterizing  that  argument  as  a  subterfuge, to  lake  "away 
the  volunteers'  exemptions  by  legal  distinctions  and  subtleties.  If  the  clause  passed, 
he  should  look  upon  himself  as  having  been  tricked  into  kidnapping  men  by  false 
offers :  his  personal  pledge  would  be  destroyed,  and  the  faith  of  Parliament  violated." 

The  chancellor  met  this  attack  with  the  best  possible  temper  and 
taste. 

He  would  inform  the  noble  earl,  that  he  had  as  high  a  regard  to  the  honour  of  Par- 
liament, and  to  his  own  honour,  as  the  noble  earl;  and  he  meant  by  that  to  express 
his  feelings  of  the  injustice  done  him,  since  he  could  not  wish  for  a  higher  character, 
as  a  public  or  as  a  private  man,  than  that  which  the  noble  earl  possessed.* 

Earl  Spencer's  anger  was  disarmed,  and  coming  up  to  the  wool- 
sack, he  shook  hands  with  the  chancellor.! 

The  spirit  which  had  led  him  to  defend  the  law  officers  of  the 
crown  from  unmerited  imputation,  was  still  more  earnestly  excited 
when  a  personal  friend  of  his  own  was  assailed.  The  circumstances 
of  the  time  having  induced  several  regiments  of  Irish  militia  to  make 
voluntary  offers  of  service  in  Great  Britain,  a  bill  was  introduced  into 
Parliament  for  enabling  his  majesty  to  accept  those  offers.  Lord 
Boringdon,  in  opposing  it  on  the  19th  of  April,  made  some  hostile 
comments  upon  certain  letters,  which  the  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  Lord 
Redesdale,  in  placing  Lord  Fingal,  an  Irish  Roman  Catholic  peer, 
upon  the  commission  of  the  peace,  had  addressed  to  that  nobleman, 
concerning  the  imputed  disaffection  of  the  lowTer  classes  of  the  Irish 
Roman  Catholics  and  the  dangerous  influence  of  their  priests. 

The  lord  chancellor  said,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  remain  silent  after  the 
charges  unjustly  cast  upon  a  noble  person,  who  had  long  been  his  dearest  and  most 
intimate  friend,  and  against  whom  uncommon  pains  had  lately  been  taken  to  excite 
a  most  unfounded  prejudice.  That  noble  person  had  been  accused  of  entertaining 
sentiments  inimical  to  a  large  body  of  the  Irish  people.  This  was  wholly  untrue; 
and,  indeed,  on  many  occasions,  Lord  Redesdale  had  been  the  best  friend  of  the 

•  Parl.  HisL  April  6,  1801.  f  Law  Mag.,  xlii. 


232  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland,  and  their  most  strenuous  advocate.  Thus  much  he 
thought  it  proper  to  say  in  behalf  of  one  whose  excellent  qualities  he  had  long  known 
and  'continued  lo  hold  in  the  highest  estimation,  and  whose  friendship  he  hoped  to 
preserve  as  long  as  life  continued  within  him.  It  had  been  objected,  that  this  mea- 
sure would  convert  the  militia  regiments  of  Ireland  into  deliberative  bodies.  In  that 
objection  he  could  perceive  no  force;  he  could  see  nothing  like  deliberation  in  their 
expressing  a  willingness  to  serve  in  any  particular  place  out  of  their  o\vn  country. 
Suppose  that  a  body  of  troops  had  agreed  to  serve  only  in  a  particular  county  of 
England,  and  that  a  necessity  should  occur  for  their  assistance  in  the  county  adjoin- 
ing, from  which  they  might  be  separated,  perhaps,  only  by  a  river;  if  they  should 
offer  to  cross  the  bridge,  which  they  were  not  compellable  to  cross,  would  it  be  dan- 
gerous to  accept  such  assistance!  Would  that  be  to  recognize  a  dangerous  delibe- 
rative power  in  military  men  1  He  did  not  apprehend  that  at  the  present  moment  this 
force  was  absolutely  necessary  to  Great  Britain;  but  such  an  accession  to  the  means 
of  domestic  defence  would  still  be  highly  useful,  as  enabling  the  government  to  con- 
vert a  large  portion  of  its  ordinary  force  to  other  important  purposes. 

Lord  Redesdale's  correspondence  with  Lord  Eldon,  which  is  very 
voluminous,  while  it  indicates  an  honest  and  incessant  zeal  for  fair 
dealing  toward  the  Roman  Catholic  people  and  for  the  suppression  of 
the  jobbery  so  rampant  in  Ireland  before  the  union,  yet  maintains  a 
strong  tone  both  of  opposition  to  the  claim  for  "  emancipation,"  and  of 
caution  against  the  ulterior  but  not  then  avowed  objects  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  agitators.  The  following  extracts  from  these  letters,  written 
by  an  Irish  to  an  English  chancellor  half  a  century  ago  and  embrac- 
ing not  a  few  of  the  points  which  agitate  the  whole  empire  to  this 
day  will  probably  retain  their  interest,  as  well  for  curious  and  specu- 
lative readers,  as  for  practical  politicians.  The  earlier  of  these  ex- 
tracts belong  in  point  of  date  to  the  years  1802,  1803,  but  seem  to 
find  their  place  most  conveniently  here,  in  connection  with  the  cor- 
respondence of  1804. 

(Lord  Redesdakto  Lord  Eldon.} — (Extract.) 

"Ely  Place,  Dublin, May  4th,  1802. 

"Patronage  is  here  much  looked  to  from  habit;  and  every  man's  consequence 
depends, in  some  degree,  on  his  patronage;  and  patronage  is  sought  in  various  ways. 
This  makes  it  much  more  difficult  to  find  a  man  who  is  wholly  disinterested  on  any 
subject,  or  who  thinks  himself  not  interested,  though,  in  fact,  he  can  scarcely  be 
deemed  to  have  an  interest.  In  truth,  we  have  not  yet  quite  got  rid  of  the  old  habits 
produced  by  the  old  system. 

"I  have  been  principally  engaged  hitherto  in  eating  and  drinking.  To-morrow  I 
sit  for  the  first  time. 

****#** 
"I  have  found  Lord  Avonmore  a  much  pleasanter  man  than  I  expected  to  find  him 
from  report.  Lord  Kilwarden  is  a  sensible  man,  but  I  think  not  strong.  Lord  Nor- 
bury, — as  you  know.  The  attorney-general  I  like,  though  he  is  not  high  as  a  lawyer. 
The  solicitor  has  more  character,  and  I  like  him  too.  Mr.  O'Grady  is  a  pleasant 
young  man.  Mr.  Saurin  sensible,  but  I  think  discontented.  The  rest  are  not  of  much 
importance. 

"  My  dear  lord, 

"Faithfully  yours, 

"  REDESDALE." 

(Lord  Redesdale  lo  Lord  Eldon.)— (Extract.) 

"Ely  Place,  Dublin,  May  29th,  1802. 

******* 

"  I  see  most  clearly,  that  time  alone  can  produce  that  change  which  is  necessary  to 

enable  those  who  are  in  situations  of  power  or  authority  of  any  description  in  this 

country,  to  act  as  persons  in  ihe  same  situations  ought  to  act  in  England;  and  that 

•whoever  looks  to  Ireland  with  English  eyes  only,  add  thinks  of  Ireland  with  English 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  233 

opinions  only,  will  fall  into  many  errors.  I  have  been  startled  at  some  acts  of  author- 
ity, which  I  have  been  called  upon  to  do  as  mailers  of  course.  But  I  find  they  must 
be  done  as  they  have  been  done ;  and  that  although  I  should  think  them  improper  in 
England,  they  are  unquestionably  necessary  here." 

(Lard  Redesdale  to  Lord  Eldon.} — (Extract.) 

"Ely  Place,  Dublin,  July  19th,  1802. 
*****•« 

"You  have  truly  said  that  if  Irish  job  is  permitted  to  get  into  English  councils, 
the  union  will  ruin  England.  You  never  made  a  more  just  or  more  important  obser- 
vation. We  are  gone,  if  the  spirit  of  Irish  job  is  not  completely  put  out  of  counte- 
nance. 

****»»» 

"Lord  Cornwallis  and  Lord  Castlereagh  are  both  pledged,  as  they  say,  to  the 
Catholics;  and  I  feel  that  the  former  struggle  has  only  produced  delay,  and  that  the 
measure  will  be  carried  in  a  worse  way  than  that  in  which  it  was  originally  proposed. 
Since  I  have  been  here,  I  have,  I  think,  gained  at  least  so  much  knowledge  of  the 
country  as  to  be  able  to  form  some  opinion  on  the  subject;  and  I  think  it  clear  that 
Lord  Cornwallis  was  very  ill  informed,  and  judged  very  ill  in  a  variety  of  instances. 
Lord  Castlereagh  was  very  young,  very  ill  supported,  and  alarmed  at  the  failure  of 
the  first  proposal  of  union.  His  family  are  considered  as  a  sort  of  head  of  the  dis- 
senters; ,and  he  has  a  strong  bias,  from  education  and  habits,  towards  that  body  of 
men,  who  are  to  the  full  as  hosiile  to  the  Established  Church  as  the  Catholics,  though 
alarm  for  themselves  made  them  take  a  sudden  turn  during  the  rebellion.  The 
church  is  sinking  every  day,  and  no  exertion  is  made  to  save  it.  Without  strong  aid 
it  cannot  stand ;  and  if  it  should  fall,  as  I  think  it  must,  if  the  Catholic  question  should 
be  carried  as  proposed,  I  fear  English  influence,  English  connection,  and  the  union 
will  go  with  it.  It  is  idle  to  talk  of  giving  the  Catholic  priests  salaries,  which  must 
be  given  by  Parliament,  and  saying  that  you  do  not  give  the  Catholic  religion  an 
establishment.  But  this  is  not  all.  Depend  upon  it,  the  salaries  will  come  out  of  the 
income  of  the  Established  Church.  Be  assured  that  that  is  the  plan,  (whatever  A. 
may  fancy  to  the  contrary,)  and  that  the  diminution  of  the  income  of  the  church  is 
as  much  the  object  with  some  as  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  Catholic  priests 
is  the  object  with  others.  I  hear  it  said  that  the  Popish  bishops,  &c.  are  adverse  to 
the  measure:  I  doubt  their  sincerity;  but  if  they  are  sincere,  it  is  because  they  think 
their  own  craft  in  danger.  Jacobinism  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole,  and  will  over- 
turn every  thing  at  last,  if  not  powerfully  resisted  and  counteracted;  and  when  the 
rebound  shall  happen,  for  it  will  happen  as  it  has  happened  in  France,  the  Catholic 
will  be  the  only  religion  which  will  recover  on  the  rebound;  for  the  rebound  will  be 
the  effect  of  physical  force,  which  is  not  with  the  Established  Church,  but  with  the 
Catholics.  Excuse  this  long  declaration  against  measures  which  I  dread,  and  which 
I  have  no  doubt  will  soon  be  proposed,  and  fear  will  be  carried. 

"  Adieu,  my  dear  lord  chancellor, 

"And  believe  me  ever 

"  Faithfully  yours, 

"RfiUESDALE." 

(Lord  Redesdale  to  Lord  Eldon.}— (Extract.) 

"  hly  Place,  Dublin,  Nov.  2d,  1303. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"Knowing  the  state  of  things  in  England  as  well  as  in  this  country,  and  observing 
how  few  there  are  whose  minds  are  above  the  bias  of  little  interests  or  passions,  and 
how  much  fewer  there  are  who  are  sufficiently  informed  to  judge  sanely,  especially  of 
this  country, — how  many  there  are,  at  the  same  time,  high  in  rank,  in  talents,  in  ac- 
quirements, ready  to  indulge  personal  resentments  at  the  expense  of  every  more  worthy 
consideration, — it  is  impossible  not  to  be  most  anxious  for  the  event  of  the  succeed- 
ing months;  for,  as  to  years, they  may  almost  be  thrown  out  of  the  measure  of  time, 
— months,  short  months,  produce  such  wonderful  changes.  The  fate  of  this  country 
depends,  in  my  opinion,  wholly  on  the  English  here  and  in  Great  Britain;  on  their 
viewing  the  subject  coolly  and  firmly,  and  acting  with  becoming  resolution  and  spirit. 
The  spirit  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  this  country  calls  itself  7mA,  separates  itself 
equally  from  Great  Britain  and  from  English  or  Britons,  and  calls,  by  the  appellation 
i>f  Enffiiehmen  or  Saxnns,  not  only  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain,  but  all  the  Pro- 
testants in  Ireland.  The  struggle  at  this  moment  is,  in  truth,  whether  the  Protestants 
shall  remain  in  their  possessions,  or  the  Roman  Catholics  shall  become  the  sole  pos- 


234  LIFE  OF  LORD 

sessors  of  Ireland.  By  Protestants,  I  would  not  be  understood  to  mean  all  who  pro- 
less  themselves  such,  because  I  know  there  are  many  apparent  Protestants,  who  are 
considered  by  the  Roman  Catholics  as  of  their  body,  and  who  would  become  Roman 
Catholics  without  scruple  to  save  their  lands.  The  common  opinions  in  England  on 
this  subject  are  formed  with  little  consideration  of  it,  and  in  great  ignorance  of  facts 
and  circumstances.  It  seems  to  me  absolutely  necessary  that  the  public  mind  should 
by  some  means  be  informed,  that  it  may  judge  more  sanely  than  it  has  lately  done. 
******* 

They  say,  it  was  unjust  to  reform  the  Christian  religion  in  Ireland  as  it  was  reformed 
in  England;  it  was  unjust  to  punish  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics  for  opposing  this 
reform;  it  was  unjust  to  give  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  to  those  of  the  clergy  who 
submitted  to  the  reform  established  by  the  legislature,  that  is,  who  conformed  to  the 
law  of  the  land;  it  was  unjust  to  forfeit  the  lands  of  the  adherents  of  the  Earl  of 
Desmond,  &c.  —  of  the  adherents  of  James  II.  in  Ireland;  therefore,  you  ought  to 
give  back,  as  they  term  it,  all  that  has  been  thus  taken ;  I  wonder  they  do  not  propose 
to  give  back  to  the  Saxon  families  all  they  were  deprived  of  by  the  Norman  con- 
quest. 

******* 

Wilberforce  openly  says,  he  thinks  you  ought  to  give  to  the  Roman  Catholic  priests 
the  tithes  of  Roman  Catholics;  that  is,  you  ought  to  abolish  the  Protestant  Church, 
for  that  would  be  the  effect. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *   ' 

But  let  them  attend  a  little  to  the  justice  of  all  this,  with  respect  to  property,  inde- 
pendent of  other  considerations.  Since  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  Protestant 
religion  has  been  always  the  religion  established  by  law  in  Ireland.  A  possession 
of  between  two  and  three  centuries  has  followed:  interrupted,  indeed  ;  but,  by  the 
law  of  the  land,  the  only  lawful  possession.  Who  are  the  present  proprietors? — 
Descendants,  in  the  seventh,  eighth,  ninth,  tenth  generation,  perhaps,  from  the  original 
acquirers, — purchasers  of  all  descriptions,  relying  on  the  faith  of  the  law. 
*****  *  * 

(Lord  Redesdale  to  Lord  Eldon.*) — (Extract.) 

"  Ardrin,  alias  Kilmand,  March  23d,  1804. 

******* 
"I  believe  I  have  more  than  once  told  you  that  I  think  the  Protestants,  if  not  be- 
trayed by  their  government,  are  the  strongest,  though  certainly  not  the  most  numerous. 
But  if  they  shall  apprehend  treachery  in  their  government,  each  man  will  be  endea- 
vouring to  outrun  his  neighbour  in  submission  to  the  ruling  powers.  Such  is  the 
character  of  the  Irish." 

******* 
(Lord  Redesdale  to  Lord  Eldon.} — (Extract.) 

"Ardrin,  I/Iarch  26th,  1804. 

******* 

"The  forfeitures  in  this  country  are  the  true  source  of  all  its  misery.  They  have 
produced  that  uncertainty  of  title,  and  still  more  of  possession,  which  has  rendered 
the  people  so  savage.  I  believe  there  has  been  much  injustice  in  many  of  the  forfeit- 
ures, and  more  in  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been  enforced.  But  this  injustice 
is  magnified,  in  the  minds  of  the  suffering  families,  to  a  pitch  of  extravagance;  and 
when  many,  very  many,  are  labouring  for  hire  in  the  fields  of  their  ancestors,  and 
repeating  to  each  other  at  every  stroke  of  their  work,  'Those  who  pay  us  ought  to  be 
the  labourers  and  we  the  masters,'  can  it  be  surprising  that  discontent  lurks  perpetu- 
ally in  their  minds?  But  is  this  a  discontent  springing  from  religion?  No;  its  ori- 
gin is  worldly,  and  religion  is  only  used  to  work  it  into  action,  for  the  sake  of  those 
who  hope  to  gain  by  it.  Would  the  making  every  concession  which  has  been  asked 
on  the  score  of  religion,  even  the  dividing  the  tithes  with  their  pastors,  remove  this 
discontent?  It  would  not  touch  it.  It  would  only  give  additional  power  to  those 
who  nourish  the  discontent.  Nothing  but  restoration  of  the  forfeited  lands  would  do 
this." 

*••***» 
(Lord  Redesdak  to  Lord  Eldon.}— (Extract.) 

"Ardrin,  May  I8ih,  1804. 
•****«* 

"The  English  government  is  particularly  weak  and  precarious,  because  the  Roman. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  235 

Catholic  Church  is  not  only  the  avowed  rival  of  the  Established  Church,  but  pretends 
a  more  ancient  and  superior  title  to  the  establishment,  the  present  possessors  of  which 
it  treats  as  usurpers.  When  the  Stuart  family  had  interest  and  consequence,  every 
one  felt  danger  from  the  Pretender.  It  would  have  been  thought  an  extraordinary 
measure  to  have  suffered  the  old  Pretender  to  have  lived  in  London,  attended  with 
all  his  adherents,  paying  him  all  the  obedience  and  all  the  honours  of  a  kin?,  obey- 
ing his  laws,  and  refusing  obedience  to  those  sanctioned  by  George  the  First  or 
George  the  Second.  Could  the  Pretender  have  so  maintained  himself  in  London 
from  1715  to  1745,  what  would  have  been  the  danger  in  1745]  Yet  such  is  precisely 
the  state  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Ireland. 

******* 
"The  whole  body  of  Roman  Catholics,  ranged  under  the  priests  of  their  respective 
parishes,  and  these  again  subordinate  to  their  archdeacons,  deans  and  chapters, 
bishops  and  archbishops,  compose  a  formidable  army,  ready  at  all  moments  to  seize 
on  what  they  deem  their  rights,  in  which  the  laity  include  the  forfeited  lands,  the  titles 
to  which  they  have  preserved,  or  affect  to  have  preserved  clear  and  regular.  Had  the 
Pretender  had  an  army  so  arranged  in  England,  residing  himself  in  England,  with  a 
regular  staff,  colonels,  lieutenant-colonels,  majors,  captains,  subalterns  and  privates, 
all  regularly  and  constantly  disciplined  to  arms,  used  to  know  and  obey  their  superior 
officers,  and  connected  as  completely  as  the  regular  army  of  the  state,  surely  the 
government  would,  in  1745,  have  been  in  the  utmost  danger." 


236  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1804. 

Combination  of  parties  against  Mr.  Addington. — Negotiation  through  Lord  Eldon 
with  Mr.  Pitt. — Letter  from  the  queen. — Letters  of  the  king  and  Mr.  Pitt,  and  per- 
sonal communications  between  Mr.  Pitt  and  Lord  Eldon  about  the  formation  of  a 
new  ministry. — Lord  Eldon's  explanations  of  his  own  share  in  these  transactions. 
— Letter  from  the  king  on  the  completion  of  the  ministry. — Political  character  of 
Mr.  Addington. 

THE  situation  of  ministers  was  now  most  perplexing.  The  thickening 
difficulties  of  Irish  affairs  and  of  the  new  war,  and  the  talents  and 
activity  of  the  many-headed  opposition  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament, 
gave  plain  warning  that  the  king's  government  must  be  strengthened 
without  delay.  But  this  was  matter  of  no  easy  accomplishment. 
The  parties,  of  which  Mr.  Fox  and  Lord  Grenville  were  respectively 
at  the  head,  entertained  opinions  too  decidedly  at  variance  with  the 
views  of  the  ministers  to  leave  any  reasonable  hope  of  co-operation 
from  either  of  those  quarters ;  and  Mr.  Pitt,  who  had  been  favourable 
to  the  government  of  Mr.  Addington  in  its  outset,  had  by  degrees 
become  first  indifferent  to  it,  then  disinclined,  and  at  last  almost  as 
adverse  as  Mr.  Fox  and  Lord  Grenville  themselves.  The  forces  of 
these  three  leaders  now  acted  in  formidable  union  against  the  ministry; 
and  the  public  were  wrought  into  the  expectation  that  a  government 
would  soon  be  formed,  on  a  broad  basis,  comprehending  all  the  abili- 
ties of  the  various  political  sections.  Mr.  Addington,  feeling  the 
inadequacy  of  his  own  strength  to  cope  with  these  powers,  and  the 
indisposition  of  the  country  to  support  him  in  such  a  struggle,  would 
willingly  have  made  way  for  a  more  efficient  ministry  if  such  a  minis- 
try could  have  been  constructed ;  but,  in  addition  to  the  difficulty 
produced  by  the  discordant  nature  of  the  materials,  there  was  this 
further  obstacle,  that  the  state  of  the  king's  mind,  though  not  suffi- 
ciently disordered  to  incapacitate  him  from  the  transaction  of  common 
business,  was  yet  much  too  unsettled  to  admit  the  deliberation  neces- 
sary for  effecting  a  change  in  the  councils  of  the  country.  Mean- 
while, however,  as  is  indicated  by  the  following  note,  some  overtures 

appear  to  have  been  made  to  Mr.  Pitt  bv  or  through  the  lord  chan- 

IT 
cellor. 

(Afr.  Pitt  to  Lord  Eldon.') 

"York  Place,  Tuesday  night,  March  20th,  (1804.) 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  Mr.  Scott*  was  so  good  as  to  give  me  your  note  this  evening  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons; I  am  very  glad  to  accept  your  invitation  for  Saturday,  as,  whatever  may  be  the 

*  The  present  earl's  father,  then  member  for  Boroughbridge. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  237 

result  of  our  conversation,  I  think  the  sooner  we  hold  it  the  better.  The  state  of  pub- 
lic affairs  makes  it  impossible  that  the  present  suspense  should  last  very  long,  and 
nothing  can  give  me  more  satisfaction  than  to  put  you  confidently  in  full  possession 
of  all  the  sentiments  and  opinions  by  which  my  conduct  will  be  regulated.  Believe 
me,  my  dear  lord, 

"  Yours,  very  sincerely, 

"  W.  PITT." 

A  confidential  note  from  the  queen,  in  the  following  month,  seems 

to  indicate  some  embarrassment  arising  from  the  state  of  the  kinp-'s 

•   j  ° 

mind :  — 

"  My  Lord, 

"Something  having  occurred  last  night  which  I  wish  to  communicate  to  you.  I  lake 
advantage  of  your  promise,  to  apply  to  you  when  under  any  difficulty,  and  beg  to  see 
you  for  a  moment  in  case  you  call  at  the  queen's  house  this  morning  before  you  go 
in  to  the  king. 

"CHARLOTTE. 

"Q.H.April  14lh,1804." 

Whether  from  an  unfavourable  change  in  the  king's  health,  or  from 
some  other  cause  not  distinctly  apparent,  the  negotiation  with  Mr. 
Pitt  seems  to  have  been  for  some  time  interrupted.  On  the  22d  of 
April,  however,  he  writes  thus  to  the  chancellor:  — 

(Mr.  Pitt  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"York  Place,  Sunday,  April  20d,  1804. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"Under  the  present  peculiar  circumstances,  I  trust  your  lordship  will  forgive  my 
taking  the  liberty  of  requesting  you  to  take  charge  of  the  enclosed  letter  to  the  king. 
Its  object  is  to  convey  to  his  majesty,  as  a  mark  of  respect,  a  previous  intimation  of 
the  sentiments  which  I  may  find  it  necessary  to  avow  in  Parliament,  and  at  the  same 
time  an  assurance,  with  respect  to  my  own  personal  intentions,  which  I  might,  per- 
haps, not  be  justified  in  offering  uncalled  for,  under  any  other  circumstances,  but 
which  you  will  see  my  motive  for  not  withholding  at  present.  I  certainly  feel  very 
anxious  that  this  letter  should  be  put  into  his  majesty's  hands,  if  it  can  with  propriety, 
before  the  discussion  of  to-morrow;*  but  having  no  means  of  forming  myself  any 
sufficient  judgment  on  that  point,  my  wish  is  to  refer  it  entirely  to  your  lordship's 
discretion,  being  fully  persuaded  that  you  will  feel  the  importance  of  making  the  com- 
munication with  as  little  delay  as  the  nature  of  the  case  will  admit.  1  shall  enclose 
my  letter  unsealed  for  your  inspection,  knowing  that  you  will  allow  me,  in  doing  so, 
to  request  that  you  will  not  communicate  its  contents  to  any  one  but  the  king  him- 
self. I  am  the  more  anxious  that  you  should  see  what  I  have  written,  because  I  can- 
not think  of  asking  you  to  undertake  to  be  the  bearer  of  a  letter  expressing  sentiments 
so  adverse  to  the  government  with  which  you  are  acting,  without  giving  you  the  pre- 
vious opportunity  of  knowing  in  what  manner  those  sentiments  are  stated. 
"Believe  me,  with  great  truth  and  regard, 
"  My  dear  lord, 

"Faithfully  and  sincerely  yours, 

"  W.  PITT." 

(Mr.  Pill  to  Lard  Eldon.') 

"York  Place,  Sunday  night,  April  22d,  1804. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  have  no  hesitation  in  availing  myself  of  your  permission  to  return  into  your 
hands  my  letter  to  the  king.  My  wish  is  to  leave  it  entirely  to  your  discretion, 
whether  it  can  with  propriety  be  delivered  before  the  debate  to  morrow.  If  not,  I 
anxiously  wish  that  it  should  be  known  to  his  majesty  in  due  time,  that  it  was  de- 
posited with  you  in  order  that  it  should  be  so  delivered,  if  you  should  judge  that  it 
could  with  propriety.  I  am,  my  dear  lord, 

"Faithfully  and  sincerely  yours, 

«  W.  PITT." 

•  On  Mr.  Fox's  announced  motion  respecting  the  defence  of  the  country. 


238  LIFE  OF  LORD 

On  Monday,  April  23d,  the  king  was,  in  the  judgment  of  his 
ministers,  sufficiently  recovered  to  preside  at  a  council;  and  the 
attempt  to  remodel  the  government  seems  to  have  been  immediately 
resumed,  through  the  agency  of  the  lord  chancellor,  on  whom  alone, 
in  a  matter  where  the  personal  intervention  of  Mr.  Addington  was 
necessarily  out  of  the  question,  the  king  inclined  to  reply.  From  the 
following  note,  addressed  by  Mr.  Pitt  to  the  chancellor,  it  appears 
that  before  the  end  of  the  month  the  negotiations  were  in  fair  train : — 

"York  Place,  Sunday,  April  29th,  1804. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  letter,  and  must  feel  great  satisfaction  in 
learning  the  manner  in  which  the  assurances  contained  in  my  letter  were  received. 
I  shall  be  at  home  till  half  past  two  to-day,  and  afterwards  from  five  to  six,  and  any 
time  before  two  to-morrow,  if  you  should  find  occasion  to  call  here.  Or,  if  you  should 
prefer  seeing  me  at  any  other  hour  or  at  your  house,  you  will  have  the  goodness  to 
let  roe  know,  and  I  shall  be  at  your  commands. 

"I  am,  my  dear  lord, 

"  Sincerely  and  faithfully  yours, 

"  W.  PITT." 

On  the  30th  of  April,  when  the  order  of  the  day  was  read  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  for  the  Marquis  of  Stafford's  motion  respecting  the 
defence  of  the  country,  Lord  Hawkesbury,  then  secretary  for  foreign 
affairs  and  leader  of  the  government  in  that  House,  requested  the 
mover  to  postpone  the  subject,  for  reasons  which  he  said  were  of  the 
highest  importance,  but  of  so  delicate  and  peculiar  a  nature  that  he 
could  not,  consistently  with  his  duty,  explain  them  then.  But  he 
could  assure  their  lordships,  on  the  pledge  of  his  own  personal  cha- 
racter, both  as  a  minister  and  as  a  lord  of  Parliament,  that  they  were 
of  such  a  kind  as  he  was  certain  would  induce  the  noble  marquis,  if 
they  were  made  known,  to  acquiesce  in  the  request  for  postponement, 
— a  request  which,  under  similar  circumstances,  had  never  been  re- 
fused. Lord  Stafford  intimated  his  assent;  but  some  discussion  arose, 
in  the  course  of  which  the  lord  chancellor  expressed  his  opinion  in 
favour  of  the  proposed  postponement,  and  his  own  feelings  upon  the 
matters  connected  with  it,  saying  emphatically, 

"I  am  determined  to  fulfil,  as  long  as  I  have  a  drop  of  blood  in  my  veins,  my  duty 
to  his  majesty  and  the  country, — for  these  terms,  my  lords,  mean  the  same  thing;  to 
do  my  duly  to  his  majesty  is  to  do  my  duty  to  the  country,  and  to  perform  my  duty  to 
the  country  is  to  perform  my  duty  to  my  sovereign.  Upon  my  most  awful  sense  of 
what  I  think  my  duty  to  both,  my  conduct  has  been,  is  and  ever  shall  be,  regulated; 
and  this  paramount  consideration  now  induces  me  to  join  in  recommending  the  noble 
marquis,  as  far  as  the  opinion  of  an  humble  individual  may  be  deserving  of  attention, 
to  postpone  his  motion." 

After  some  warm  debate,  the  motion  was  adjourned.  On  the  same 
evening,  this  adjournment  having  become  known  in  the  House  of 
Commons  and  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Fox,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exche- 
quer, Mr.  Addington,  declared  that  the  same  considerations  which  had 
rendered  it  expedient  to  postpone  the  motion  in  the  other  House 
applied  also  to  several  matters  which  were  pending  in  this  ;  and  those 
matters  were  postponed  accordingly. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  239 

(Mr.  Pitt  to  Lord  Eldon.~) 

"  York  Place,  Wednesday,  May  2d,  1804,  three  quarters  past  1  p.  M. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  enclose  a  letter  addressed  to  you,  which  I  shall  be  much  obliged  to  you  if  you 
will  lay  before  his  majesty.  I  am  sorry  not  to  have  been  able  to  make  it  shorter,  or 
to  send  it  you  sooner.  As  I  think  it  may  probably  find  you  at  the  Court  of  Chancery, 
I  will,  at  the  same  time  that  I  send  it,  ride  down  to  Mr.  Rose's,  at  Palace  Yard,  in  order 
that  I  may  be  easily  within  your  reach,  if  any  thing  should  arise  on  which  you  may 
wish  to  see  me  before  you  go  to  the  queen's  house.  If  you  should  not  be  at  the 
Court  of  Chancery,  I  shall  order  my  letter  to  be  carried  to  your  house,  unless  my 
servant  should  learn  where  it  can  be  delivered  to  you  sooner. 

"Ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"  Yours,  very  sincerely, 

"  W.  PITT. 
"Lord  Chancellor." 

Mr.  Pitt's  return  to  power  was  far  from  being  personally  desired 
by  his  majesty,  who  seems  to  have  submitted  to  it  only  as  matter  of 
necessity.  The  royal  ear,  for  some  time  accustomed  to  the  mild  and 
deferential  key  of  Mr.  Addington,  was  somewhat  painfully  startled 
by  the  loftier  tone  of  Mr.  Pitt ;  and  under  the  irritation  of  an  illness 
not  yet  completely  dissipated,  this  comparative  dissatisfaction  was 
more  than  usually  excited.  A  note  from  the  king,  animadverting 
upon  the  enclosure  in  Mr.  Pitt's  letter  to  the  chancellor  of  2d  May, 
will  show  how  unwillingly  his  majesty  contemplated  the  reinstatement 
of  its  author. 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.*) 

"  Queen's  Palace,  May  5th,  1804,  19  minutes  past  6  p.  M. 

"The  king  is  much  pleased  with  his  excellent  chancellor's  note:  he  doubts  much 
•whether  Mr.  Pitt  will,  after  weighing  the  contents  of  the  paper  delivered  this  day 
to  him  by  Lord  Eldon,  choose  to  have  a  personal  interview  with  his  majesty;  but 
whether  he  will  not  rather  prepare  another  essay,  containing  as  many  empty  words 
and  little  information  as  the  one  he  had  before  transmitted. 

"His  majesty  will,  with  great  pleasure,  receive  the  lord  chancellor  to-morrow  be- 
tween ten  and  eleven,  the  time  he  himself  has  proposed. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

Although  the  force  of  circumstances  prevailed  to  effect  the  king's 
acceptance  of  Mr.  Pitt  himself,  it  was  in  vain  that  Mr.  Pitt  attempted 
to  open  the  way  for  Mr.  Fox  as  his  colleague.  Against  the  admission 
of  the  latter  statesman  into  his  councils,  the  king  was  immovably 
resolute ;  and  Lord  Grenville  and  his  friends,  whose  co-operation  Mr. 
Pitt  was  authorized  to  invite,  declined  to  form  part  of  a  government 
thus  constructed  upon  what  Lord  Grenville  termed  "a  principle  of 
exclusion."  Meanwhile,  the  lord  chancellor,  actuated  at  once  by 
his  attachment  to  the  king,  whose  personal  feelings  were  deeply  inte- 
rested in  these  changes,  and  by  a  sense  of  the  public  inconveniences 
which,  in  the  peculiar  state  of  the  king's  mind,  would  follow  from 
any  hasty  or  forced  composition  of  a  new  ministry,  had  been  success- 
fully employing  his  influence  in  the  House  of  Peers,  to  gain,  on  behalf 
of  his  majesty,  the  time  required  for  due  deliberation  and  arrange- 
ment. The  negotiations  being  still  incomplete  on  the  7th  of  May, 
which  was  the  day  appointed  for  the  postponed  motion  of  Lord  Staf- 
ford, the  lord  chancellor  then  requested  a  still  further  postponement, 
saying, 


240  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"It  is  within  my  own  knowledge  that  circumstances  have  now  passed  which  make 
the  discussion  of  the  noble  marquis's  motion  more  unseasonable  and  more  inexpe- 
dient, at  the  present  time,  than  at  any  former  period  proposed  for  its  consideration." 

To  this  suggestion  Lord  Stafford  arid  the  House  acceded  without 
debate  :  it  being  by  that  time  generally  understood  that  the  arrange- 
ments for  the  ministry  were  in  an  advanced  state. 

Mr.  Pitt,  who  was  now  in  personal  communication  with  the  king, 
was  accustomed,  after  any  interview  with  his  majesty,  to  inform  the 
chancellor  of  the  general  result.  The  notes  next  subjoined  bring 
down  the  negotiations  to  their  successful  close : — 

"  York  Place,  Tuesday,  May  8th,  1804. 
"My  dear  Lord, 

"I  shall  be  much  obliged  to  you  if  you  can  send  me  a  single  line  to  let  me  know 
what  accounts  you  have  from  the  queen's  house  this  morning.  I  shall  be  very  desi- 
rous of  seeing  you  in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  will  endeavour  either  to  find  you  near 
the  House  of  Lords  between  four  and  five,  or  will  call  on  you  in  the  evening.  It  will, 
probably,  be  desirable  that  I  should  see  the  king  again  to-morrow. 

"Ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"Sincerely  yours, 

"  W.  P." 

"York  Place,  Wednesday  night,  May  9th,  1804. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  have  had  another  interview  to-day,  not  quite,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  so  satisfactory 
as  that  of  Monday.  I  do  not  think  there  was  any  thing  positively  wrong,  but  there 
was  a  hurry  of  spirits  and  an  excessive  love  of  talking  which  showed  that  either  the 
airing  of  this  morning  or  the  seeing  so  many  persons  and  conversing  so  much  during 
these  three  days,  has  rather  tended  to  disturb.  The  only  inference  I  draw  from  this 
observation  is,  that  too  much  caution  cannot  be  used  in  still  keeping  exertion  of  all 
sorts,  and  particularly  conversation,  within  reasonable  limits.  If  that  caution  can  be 
sufficiently  adhered  to,  I  have  no  doubt  that  every  thing  will  go  well;  there  is  cer- 
tainly nothing  in  what  I  have  observed  that  would,  in  the  smallest  degree,  justify 
postponing  any  of  the  steps  that  are  in  progress  towards  arrangement.  I  am,  there- 
fore, to  attend  again  at  two  to-morrow,  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  the  seals,  which 
Mr.  A.  will  have  received  notice  from  his  majesty  to  bring.  If  I  should  not  meet  you 
there,  I  will  endeavour  to  see  you  afterwards  at  the  House  of  Lords. 

"  I  am,  my  dear  lord, 

"Ever  sincerely  yours, 

"  W.  PITT." 

In  accordance  with  the  expectation  expressed  in  the  last  note,  the 
seals  of  office  were  delivered  to  Mr.  Pitt  on  the  following  morning, 
the  10th  of  May,  1804.  His  administration,  when  completed,  was 
found  to  involve  much  less  of  change  than  had  been  generally  ex- 
pected ;  the  only  members  of  the  cabinet  who  retired  with  Mr.  Ad- 
dington,  being  Mr.  Yorke,  Earl  St.  Vincent  and  Lord  Hobart;  and 
the  members  who  came  in  with  Mr.  Pitt  being  Lord  Harrowby,  Lord 
Melville  and  Lord  Camden,  with  the  addition  of  Lord  Mulgrave, 
whose  predecessor,  in  the  duchy  of  Lancaster,  had  not  held  a  seat  in 
/he  cabinet. 

Of  Lord  Eldon's  share  in  this  arrangement,  and  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  was  induced  to  retain  the  chancellorship,  he  has  him- 
self, in  his  Anecdote  Book,  left  this  memorandum : — 

"  When  Mr.  Addington  went  out  of  office,  and  Mr.  Pitt  succeeded 
him,  the  king  was  just  recovered  from  mental  indisposition.  He 
ordered  me  to  go  to  Mr.  Pitt  with  his  commands  for  Mr.  Pitt  to  attend 
him.  I  went  to  him,  to  Baker  Street  or  York  Place,  to  deliver  those 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  241 

commands.  I  found  him  at  breakfast.  After  some  little  conversa- 
tion he  said,  as  the  king  was  pleased  to  command  his  attendance  with 
a  view  to  forming  a  new  administration,  he  hoped  I  had  not  given 
any  turn  to  the  king's  mind  which  could  affect  any  proposition  he 
might  have  to  make  to  his  majesty  upon  that  subject.*  I  was  ex- 
tremely hurt  by  this.  I  assured  him  I  had  not ;  that  I  considered 
myself  as  a  gentleman  bringing  to  a  gentleman  a  message  from  a  king ; 
and  that  I  should  have  acted  more  unworthily  than  I  believed  myself 
capable  of  acting,  if  I  had  given  any  opinion  upon  what  might  be 
right  to  his  majesty.  Mr.  Pitt  went  with  me  in  my  carriage  to  Buck- 
ingham House,  and,  when  we  arrived  there,  he  asked  me  if  I  was 
sure  his  majesty  was  well  enough  to  see  him.  I  asked  him  whether 
he  thought  that  I  should  have  brought  him  such  a  message  if  I  had 
any  doubt  upon  that,  and  observed  that  it  was  fortunately  much  about 
the  hour  when  the  physicians  called;  and,  it  turning  out  that  they 
were  in  the  house,  I  said  he  might  see  them  in  an  adjoining  room. 
He  asked  me  to  go  with  him  into  that  room.  After  what  had  passed, 
I  said  I  should  not  do  so,  and  that  it  was  fit  that  he  should  judge  for 
himself,  and  that  I  should  be  absent.  He  then  left  me,  and,  after 
being  with  the  physicians  a  considerable  time,  he  returned,  and  said 
he  was  quite  satisfied  with  their  report,  and  expressed  his  astonish- 
ment at  what  he  had  heard  from  them ;  that  he  had  learnt,  he  thought 
from  unquestionable  authority,  only  the  day  before,  that  I  never  had 
seen  the  king  but  in  the  presence  of  the  doctors  or  doctor  who  at- 
tended him  on  account  of  his  mental  health.  He  intimated  that  this 

was  intelligence  which  had  come  from  C n  House,  and  which  he 

had  now  learned  was  utterly  devoid  of  truth. f 

"  He  was  soon  after  introduced  to  the  king,  and  he  remained  with 
his  majesty  a  considerable  time.  Upon  his  return  he  said  he  found 
the  king  perfectly  well, — that  he  had  expressed  his  full  consent  to 
Lord  Grenville's  being  a  part  of  the  new  administration,  but  that  all 
his  endeavours  to  prevail  upon  his  majesty  to  consent  to  Mr.  Fox  also 
being  a  member  of  it  had  been  urged  in  vain  in  the  course  of  a  long 
nterview  and  conversation.  It  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Pitt  was 
obliged  to  form  an  administration  without  either.  After  Mr.  Pitt  had 
formed  the  rest  of  his  administration,  he  conversed  with  me  as  to 
remaining  chancellor.  I  told  him  that  I  must  first  know  w*hether  he 
had  any  reason  to  believe  that  it  had  been  necessary  to  ask  me  whe- 
ther I  had  given  any  turn  to  the  king's  mind  that  could  affect  any 

*  This  inquiry  seems  to  have  suggested  itself  in  consequence  of  an  opinion  strongly 
expressed  by  Lord  Eldon  to  Mr.  I'm,  against  the  association  of  Mr.  Fox  in  the  minis- 
try which  Mr.  Pitt  was  about  to  receive  the  king's  commands  for  constructing.  See 
the  letter  of  Lord  Eldon  to  Lord  Melville,  of  January,  1807. 

•{•This  Carlton  House  report  about  the  presence  of  the  physicians  was  disproved 
by  Lord  Eldon's  ample  and  distinct  explanation  of  the  whole  matter  to  the  House  of 
Lords,  on  the  28th  of  January,  1811,  when  the  physicians  were  living,  who  could 
have  been  examined  to  contradict  him  had  contradiction  been  possible.  Lord 
Brougham,  being  doubtless  unaware  of  that  direct  refutation,  has  taken  the  sup- 
posed circumstances  of  the  chancellor's  communication  with  the  king,  as  a  text  for 
some  constitutional  strictures,  in  the  second  series  of  his  "Historical  Sketches  of 
Statesmen,"  1839,  pages  55  to  57. 
VOL.  I. 16 


242  LIFE  OF  LORD 

proposition  he  had  to  make  to  the  king.  He,  said,  that  when  he  left 
his  majesty  he  was  convinced  that  nothing  had  passed  between  his 
majesty  and  me  relative  to  the  formation  of  an  administration,  as  to 
any  person  who  should  or  should  not  form  a  part  of  it ;  and  that,  if  I 
desired  it,  he  would  give  me  a  written  declaration,  in  any  terms 
which  would  be  satisfactory,  that  he  had  no  reason  to  think  that  I  had 
in  any  way  influenced  his  majesty's  mind.  I  told  him  that  what  he 
had  said  was  enough." 

The  following  additional  particulars  are  from  a  letter  of  Lord  Eldon 
to  Mr.  Perceval,  of  which  the  draft  is  extant  in  Lord  Eldon's  hand- 
writing. It  is  undated ;  but  was  obviously  written  on  the  occasion  of 
the  difficulties  which  arose  in  1810  and  1811,  out  of  the  king's  re- 
lapse :  and  it  recapitulated  some  of  the  circumstances  which  occurred 
during  the  malady  of  1804,  in  these  words: — 

Mr.  Pitt  was  introduced  to  his  majesty, — they  had  a  long  conversation, — he  came 
out,  and  ihe.  physicians  remember  it,  not  only  satisfied,  but  much  surprised  with  the 
king's  ability, — he  said  he  had  never  so  baffled  him  in  any  conversation  he  had  had 
with  him  in  his  life.  He  then  went  to  Lord  Grenville,!  believe, — and,  as  I  understood 
him,  the  king  did  not  object  to  Lord  Grenville,  but  did  object  to  Mr.  Fox.  Lord  Gren- 
ville, I  understood,  therefore  declined;  and  I  recollect  Mr.  Pitt  saying,  with  some  in- 
dignation, he  would  teach  that  proud  man,  that,  in  the  service  and  with  the  confidence 
of  the  king,  he  could  do  without  him,  though  he  thought  his  health  such,  that  it  might 
cost  him  his  life.  No  objection  was  made*  to  coming  in,  on  account  of  the  kind's  health 
— that  was  quite  unobjectionable,  if  the  objection  to  Mr.  Fox  could  be  got  over.  I  recollect 
Mr.  Pitt  saying  he  never  saw  the  king,  when  he  would  more  willingly  have  taken  his 
opinion  about  the  most  important  of  all  subjects,  peace  or  war. 

The  succeeding  letter  from  the  king  is  a  striking  testimony  to  Lord 
Eldon's  upright  and  loyal  conduct  throughout  these  difficult  negotia- 
tions : — 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

'•  Queen's  Palace,  May  18ih,  1S04.    5  m.  pt.  10  A.  M. 

"The  king  having  signed  the  commission  for  giving  his  royal  assent,  returns  it  to 
his  excellent  lord  chancellor,  whose  conduct  he  most  thoroughly  approves.  His  ma- 
jesty feels  the  difficulties  he  has  had,  both  political  and  personally  to  the  king;  but 
the  uprightness  of  Lord  Eldon's  mind  and  his  attachment  to  the  king  have  borne 
him  with  credit  and  honour,  and  (what  the  king  knows  will  not  be  without  its  due 
weight)  with  the  approbation  of  his  sovereign,  through  an  unpleasant  labyrinth. 
"  The  king  saw  Mr.  Addington  yesterday. 

*«.*»*  *  * 

Mr.  Addington  spoke  with  his  former  warmth  of  friendship  for  the  lord  chancellor; 
he  seems  to  require  quiet,  as  his  mind  is  perplexed  between  returning  affection  for 
Mr.  Pitt,  and  great  soreness  at  the  contemptuous  treatment  he  met  with  the  end  of  the 
last  session  from  one  he  had  ever  looked  upon  as  his  private  friend.  This  makes 
the  king  resolved  to  keep  them  for  some  time  asunder. 

"  GEOHGE  R." 

Mr.  Addington,  who,  for  one  and  twenty  years  before  his  death  in 
the  month  of  February,  1844,  had  been  withdrawn  from  the  more 
active  duties  of  political  life,  has  left  the  reputation  rather  of  a  sensi- 
ble and  amiable  man  than  of  an  able  statesman.  His  faculties  were 
hardly  those  which  are  expected  in  a  minister  directing  the  govern- 
ment and  leading  the  House  of  Commons.  He  wanted  grasp  of  mind 
for  great  occasions  and  great  positions :  nor  did  he  possess  those  pow- 

*  By  Lord  Grenville,  on  that  occasion. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  243 

ers  of  debate  by  which  the  defect  of  more  essential  endowments  has 
sometimes  been  supplied  or  concealed.  He  headed  no  party  among 
the  people  ;  and  his  chief  strength  lay  in  the  personal  favour  of  George 
III.,  who  liked  him  for  his  respectful  demeanour  and  gentle  disposi- 
tion, and  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  section  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons then  known  under  the  denomination  of  "The  king's  friends." 
Their  adhesion  was  not  to  his  majesty's  government,  but  to  his  ma- 
jesty's person :  whenever  the  king  changed  his  ministers,  or  differed 
from  them,  that  flying  squadron  took  up  a  corresponding  position :  Mr. 
Pitt,  when  he  returned  to  office,  soon  found  it  necessary  to  conciliate 
the  king  by  renewing  his  alliance  with  Mr.  Addington,  who,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1805,  was  created  Viscount  Sidmouth  and  appointed  president 
of  the  council.  It  was  probably  at  the  king's  desire,  that  on  the  for- 
mation of  the  Whig  ministry,  in  1806,  he  took  office  with  men  whose 
sentiments  were  so  little  in  unison  with  his  own ;  and  he  afterwards 
rejoined  his  old  allies,  with  whom,  as  secretary  of  state  for  the  home 
department,  he  continued  to  be  associated  until  his  final  retirement 
from  political  business.  In  his  administration  of  that  office,  which  he 
held  from  1812  to  1822,  during  times  of  great  excitement  and  even 
disturbance,  he  displayed  courage  and  firmness,  well  tempered  by  a 
humane  and  equable  mind ;  and  showed  that  his  merits,  if  not  suited 
for  the  loftiest  station  in  cabinet  or  debate,  were  such  as  to  fit  him  for 
useful  and  important  duties,  and  to  ensure  him  an  honourable  place 
in  the  respect  and  regard  of  his  colleagues.  His  private  fortune  being 
moderate,  he  accepted,  and  for  some  time  retained,  a  pension  for  his 
services  in  the  state ;  but,  when  placed  in  affluence  by  the  addition  of 
a  large  income  which  accrued  to  his  lady  upon  the  death  of  her  father, 
Lord  Stowell,  he  relinquished,  with  a  becoming  liberality,  the  provi- 
sion which,  in  other  circumstances,  he  had  very  fairly  considered 
himself  entitled  to  enjoy. 


244  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1804. 

King's  indisposition  :  letters  of  the  Duke  of  York  and  Mr.  Pitt :  recovery  of,  and  letter 
from  the  king. — Application  in  verse  for  a  living. — Aylesbury  Constituency  Bill. — 
Letters  from  the  king. — Lord  chancellor's  speeches  on  slave  trade  abolition  and 
Insolvent  Debtors'  Bills. — Overtures  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  for  a  reconciliation 
with  the  king:  letters  of  the  prince,  queen  and  king:  lord  chancellor's  interview 
with  the  prince. — Marriage  of  Lord  Eldon's  eldest  son  with  Miss  Ridley  :  letter  of 
Lord  Eldon  to  Lady  Ridley. — Miss  Bridge,  of  Weobly. — Letter  of  Mr.  Moises  to 
Lord  Eldon,  and  of  Lord  Eldon  to  Miss  F.  L.  Farrer. 

MR.  PITT  was  very  soon  to  struggle  with  some  of  the  same  per- 
plexities which  had  disquieted  his  predecessor,  on  the  subject  of  the 
Idng's  mental  health.  The  two  following  letters  show  the  painfully 
uncertain  state  of  it  about  the  end  of  May,  and  the  confidence  placed 
in  Lord  Eldon  both  by  the  royal  family  and  by  the  first  minister. 

(The  Duke  of  York  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"  Horse  Guarda,  May  25th,  180-1. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"Having  missed  the  pleasure  of  seeing  your  lordship  to-day  as  I  had  intended,  I 
trust  that  you  will  excuse  my  troubling  you  with  this  letter,  to  put  you  in  mind  of  the 
necessity  of  speaking  as  early  as  possible  to  his  majesty  upon  the  propriety  of  the 
queen's  keeping  his  birthday  at  St.  James's;  as,  if  it  is  not  announced  in  the  Gazette 
to-morrow  night,  persons  who  mean  to  appear  at  the  drawing-room  will  not  have  time 
to  prepare  their  dresses.  I  am  afraid,  from  what  I  have  heard,  that  things  were  not 
comfortable  at  the  queen's  house  this  morning,  and  wish  that  you  would  inquire  of 
Sir  Francis  Millman  and  Dr.  Simmonds  before  you  go  in  to  the  king,  as  he  seems  to 
dwell  much  upon  the  illegality  of  his  confinement,  and  is  not  aware  of  the  dreadful 
consequences  which  may  attend  him  if  any  unfortunate  circumstance  can  be  brought 
forward  in  Parliament. 

"Believe  me  ever, 

"  My  dear  lord, 

"  Yours  most  sincerely, 

"  FREDERICK." 

"  Bromley  Hall,  Saturday  evening,  May  26th,  1804. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"As  I  was  leaving  town  this  evening  I  learned  (in  a  way  on  which  I  can  entirely 
depend)  some  circumstances  of  a  conversation  in  one  of  the  audiences  on  Thursday, 
which  seem  very  alarming.  The  topics  treated  of  were  such  as  did  not  at  all  arise 
out  of  any  view  (right  or  wrong)  of  the  actual  state  of  things,  but  referred  to  plans  of 
foreign  politics,  that  could  only  be  creatures  of  an  imagination  heated  and  disordered. 
This  part  of  the  discourse,  however,  though  commenced  with  great  eagerness,  was 
not  long  dwelt  on,  and  in  the  remainder  there  was  nothing  in  substance  wrong.  This 
information  has  been  given  me,  as  you  may  imagine,  in  strict  confidence;  but  I 
desired  and  received  permission  to  communicate  it  to  you,  and  to  mention  it  to  Dr. 
8 — .  I  will  tell  you  the  name  of  my  informant  when  I  see  you,  and  you  will  pro- 
bably not  find  it  diSicult  to  guess  him  in  the  mean  time.  There  is  nothing  very 
material  to  be  known  as  to  the  particulars  (as  far  as  it  strikes  me)  except  that  they 
related  to  plans,  political  and  mil'tary,  about  the  Netherlands.  I  mention  thus  much 
now,  because  it  may  enable  you  to  learn  from  Dr.  S.  whether  any  thing  has  before 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  245 

passed  on  this  point.  I  would  have  endeavoured  to  see  you  in  town  to-morrow- 
morning,  but  I  understand  you  will  be  setting  out  early  to  Windsor.  On  your  return, 
either  that  evening  or  .Monday  morning,  I  shall  be  very  anxious  to  see  you  at  any 
hour  that  suits  you  best,  and  will  beg  you  to  send  to  Downing  Street  to  let  me  know. 

"Ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"  W.  PITT." 

The  apprehensions  thus  expressed  were,  however,  speedily  allayed 
by  the  returning  tranquillity  of  the  king.  His  next-inserted  letter, 
written  within  a  fortnight  of  the  foregoing  note,  evinces,  once  more, 
an  entire  self-possession,  and  exemplifies,  strikingly,  that  conscientious 
attachment  of  George  III.  to  the  religious  and  civil  institutions  of  his 
country,  which  has  left  his  memory  in  high  and  almost  enthusiastic 
esteem  among  the  worthiest  classes  of  the  British  people. 

(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"  Queen's  Palace,  June  8th,  1804. 

"The  king,  on  returning  from  his  walk  in  the  garden,  has  found  the  lord  chan- 
cellor's note,  accompanied  by  the  titles  of  the  three  bills  wherein  the  property  of  the 
crown  is  affected. 

"His  majesty  fully  authorizes  his  most  excellent  Lord  Eldon  to  give  his  consent  to 
the  House  of  Lords  proceeding  with  these  bills,  and  in  particular  approves  of  the  one 
for  laying  open  Westminster  Abbey  to  Palace  Yard.  Whatever  makes  the  people 
more  accustomed  to  view  cathedrals  must  raise  their  veneration  for  the  Established 
Church.  The  king  will,  with  equal  pleasure,  consent,  when  it  is  proposed,  to  the 
purchasing  and  pulling  down  the  west  side  of  Bridge  Street  and  the  houses  fronting 
Westminster  Hall;  as  it  will  be  opening  to  the  traveller  that  ancient  pile,  which  is 
the  seat  of  administration  of  the  best  laws,  and  the  most  uprightly  administered ; 
and  if  the  people  really  valued  the  religion  and  laws  of  this  blessed  country,  we 
should  stand  on  a  rock  that  no  time  could  destroy. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

It  may  now  amuse  the  reader  to  turn  for  a  moment  from  affairs  of 
state,  and  glance  at  the  chancellor  in  more  private  pursuits.  About 
the  latter  part  of  May,  he  received  a  paper,  of  which  the  following  is 
a  copy : — 

EXTEMPORE  ADDRESS  TO  THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  THE  LORD 
CHANCELLOR. 

Written  by  an  hungry  tine  cure  Pars»n,  from  his  humble  apartment,  No.  2  Charlotte  Street,  Pimlico, 
on  the  evening  of  Whit-Sunday,  20th  May,  1304. 

Hear,  generous  lawyer!  hear  my  prayer, 
Nor  let  my  freedom  make  you  stare, 

In  hailing  you,  Jack  Scott! 
Tho'  now  upon  the  woolsack  placed, 
With  wealth,  with  power,  with  title  graced, 

Once  nearer  was  our  lot. 

Say,  by  what  name  the  hapless  bard 
May  best  attract  your  kind  regard, 

Plain  Jack?— Sir  John? — or  Eldon? 
Give,  from  your  ample  store  of  giving, — 
A  starving  priest  some  little  living, — 

The  world  will  cry  out,  "  Well  done!" 

In  vain,  without  a  patron's  aid, 

I've  pray'd  and  preach'd,  and  preach'd  and  pray'd, — 

Applauded,  but  ill-fed. 
Such  vain  eclat  let  others  share; 
Alas.  I  cannot  feed  on  air, 

I  ask  not  praise,  but  bread. 


246  LIFE  OF  LORD 

You'll  sure  allow — 'tis  most  provoking 
To  see  roast,  boil'd,  and  dainties  smoking, 

Fools,  knaves  and  jugglers  carving; 
While  learning,  almost  proved  a  curse, 
With  hungry  throat  and  empty  purse, 

On  Hebrew  roots  is  starving. 

'Twere  better,  sure,  if  many  a  father 
Would  make  his  son  a  cobbler  rather 

Than  needy  learning  give; 
Since  all  the  learning  gain'd  at  college 
Cannot  impart  that  needful  knowledge, 

The  knowledge  "how  to  live." 

For  me,  unless  hard  fate's  obduracy, 
Relenting,  grant  me  some  snug  curacy, 

No  more  my  gown  I'll  use : 
The  care  of  human  souls  declining, 
Prebend's,  for  cobbler's,  stall  resigning, 

I'll  mend  the  soles  of  shoes. 

Yet,  scarcely  forty  winters  past, 
'Twere  hard  to  see  me  at  my  lout, 

An  awful  warning  giving  ! 
Such  sad  reverse,  good  Lord!  forbid  it; 
Save  me,  and  let  me  "  say  you  did  it," 

On  whom  depends  my  living.  L.  H.  H. 

From  whom  this  petition  proceeded,  the  chancellor  was  at  a  loss 
even  to  conjecture;  but,  as  it  was  his  frequent  custom,  after  the  day's 
business  in  court,  to  refresh  himself  with  a  walk,  he  turned  his  steps, 
on  the  first  day  when  he  happened  to  have  leisure,  toward  the  place 
from  which  the  verses  were  dated,  with  a  view  to  discover  the  author. 
He  found  in  Charlotte  Street,  Pimlico,  three  houses  numbered  2 ;  but 
at  none  of  them  was  any  clergyman  resident.  Miss  Ridley,  Lady 
Eldon's  niece,  who  relates  the  story,  adds,  in  a  letter  to  the  present 
earl,  "  I  am  sure  his  kind  heart  was  disappointed  not  to  find  an  object 
to  relieve."  After  all,  however,  this  piece  of  poetry  turned  out  to 
be  a  merejm  d'esprit,  thrown  off  by  Mr.  Scott,  his  eldest  son,  "in 
consequence,"  adds  Miss  Ridley,  "  of  a  conversation  which  had  taken 
place  at  Lord  Eldon's  dinner-table,  on  the  difficulty  of  swearing  to 
hand-writing,  which,  from  the  same  person,  often  varied  materially. 
Lord  Eldon  said  (and  I  am  pretty  sure  I  said  the  same),  that  he  would 
never  be  mistaken  in  your  father's  writing ;  upon  which  your  father 
said,  that  Lord  Eldon  might  some  day  or  other  see  it  without  recog- 
nizing it. — A  short  time  afterwards  the  two-penny  post  conveyed  to 
Bedford  Square  those  lines,  with  which  your  grandfather  was  highly 
delighted.  Your  father  confessed  to  me,  and,  I  believe,  to  his  father, 
that  he  had  in  this  manner  made  the  experiment  of  disguising  his 
hand- writing,  to  confirm  his  observation  that  it  might  be  seen  without 
detection." 

The  month  of  June  ushered  a  bill  into  the  House  of  Lords,  which 
had  passed  the  Commons  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  such  men  as 
Sir  W.  Grant,  Mr.  Fox,  Mr.  Windham  and  Mr.  Perceval,  for  recon- 
structing the  constituency  of  the  borough  of  Aylesbury.  Some  of  the 
electors  having  been  guilty  of  bribery,  it  was  proposed  by  this  bill  to 
swamp  the  whole  franchise,  and  let  in  all  the  forty-shilling  freeholders 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  247 

of  the  three  hundreds  of  Aylesbury  to  vote  in  the  future  elections  of 
members  for  that  borough.  Lord  Eldon  was  a  strenuous  opponent 
of  such  legislation : — 

He  said,  that  if  the  principle  of  the  bill  had  been  justifiable,  the  change  ought  not 
to  have  been  confined  to  a  single  borough;  but  even  had  it  been  general,  he  should 
have  opposed  it,  as  contrary  to  ihe  best  views  of  the  constitution,  and  founded  on  idle 
and  theoretical  notion.";  of  reform.  For  an  evil  like  that  alleged  to  exist  at  Aylesbury, 
the  common  law  provided  a  sufficient  remedy.  He  was  no  enemy  to  real  reform; 
but  he  would  ever  oppose  that  which,  under  the  semblance  of  reform,  committed 
injustice.  The  effect  of  this  measure  would  be,  not  only  lo  diminish  the  value  of 
the  franchise  by  multiplying  its  possessors,  but  to  confound  the  innocent  with  the 
guilty. 

These  arguments,  urged  in  the  debates  of  the  6th  and  15th  of  June, 
were  unavailing,  however,  to  defeat  the  bill,  which  passed  into  law, 
and  became  the  60th  chapter  of  44  George  III. 

The  29th  of  June  is  the  date  of  a  kind  note  from  the  king,  who,  in 
congratulating  the  chancellor  on  the  then  approaching  marriage  of  his 
eldest  son,  falls  into  the  error  (and  it  is  one  of  a  nature  very  unusual 
with  his  majesty)  of  misstating  a  proper  name. 

(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldon. ) 

11  Kew,  June  29lh,  1804,  50  m.  past  7  A.  M. 

"The  king  has  this  morning  received  the  lord  chancellor's  note,  with  the  list  of 
bills  now  ready  for  the  royal  assent,  as  also  the  commission  for  passing  them  ;  which 
having  signed,  he  returns  them,  with  many  congratulations  on  the  near  approach  of 
Mr.  Eldon's  nuptials — if  the  lawyers  are  willing  to  finish  the  writings, — but  decision 
and  dispatch  seem  not  to  be  qualities  much  known  in  that  dangerous  science  when 
practised,  though  noble  one  in  theory. 

"  GEOHGE  R." 

(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldon. ,) 

"Kew,  June  30ih,  1804,  —  m  past  —  A  M. 

"The  king  easily  conceives,  that,  unless  the  House  of  Commons  can  be  taught  the 
utility  of  having  more  forecast,  and  consequently  bringing  in  bills  earlier  in  the  course 
of  the  sessions,  the  present  evil  of  occasioning  much  hurry  and  too  little  decent 
deliberation  in  the  House  of  Lords.*  But,  in  truth,  part  of  this  must  inevitably  be 
laid,  this  year,  to  the  door  of  the  king's  long,  tedious,  and  never-ending  confinement, 
which  has  thrown  much  perplexity  in  every  quarter,  but  which  he  is  resolved,  with 
the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,  carefully  to  avoid  in  future.  His  majesty  saw, 
yesterday  afternoon,  Mr.  Pitt,  and  was  much  pleased  with  the  appearance  of  his 
health,  and  his  good  spirits  at  the  great  success  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  total 
dereliction  of  the  motley  opposition.  Mr.  Pitt  brings  in  his  proposals  for  exonerating 
Che  civil  list,  and  the  provision  for  the  king's  five  daughters;  of  which  the  king  gave 
them  information  last  night,  and  saw,  with  the  highest  satisfaction,  their  affectionate 
gratitude. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

The  Slave-trade  Abolition  Bill  which,  at  the  end  of  June,  had  passed 
the  House  of  Commons  and  been  read  a  first  time  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  stood  for  a  second  reading  in  their  Lordships'  House  on  the 
3d  of  July,  when  Lord  Hawkesbury  moved,  on  account  of  the  then 
advanced  period  of  the  session,  that  it  should  be  read  a  second  time 
on  that  day  three  months. 

The  lord  chancellor  said  he  did  not  recollect  to  have  ever  given  a  vote  on  this  sub- 
ject. But  he  thought  it  fair  to  those  whose  property  would  be  ruinously  affected  by 
the  bill,  to  take  time  for  deliberation,  and  asked  of  their  lordships  to  exercise  their 
humanity  and  justice,  not  on  partial,  but  upon  comprehensive  principles. 

*  Sic  in  orig. 


248  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Lord  Hawkesbury's  motion  was  carried,  and  the  bill  was  conse- 
quently lost  for  that  session. 

On  the  subject  of  an  insolvent  debtors'  bill,  of  which  the  commit- 
ment was  moved  on  the  24th  of  July, 

The  chancellor  reprobated  the  false  humanity  and  real  injustice  which  these 
measures  so  often  involved.  They  were  made  effectual  instruments  of  chicanery  and 
swindling,  until  creditors  were  reduced  by  them  to  the  situation  of  debtors,  and  com- 
pelled to  seek  the  refuge  of  such  legislation  for  themselves. 

The  king,  on  the  31st,  prorogued  Parliament  in  person. 

The  differences  between  his  majesty  and  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
which  had  long  been  a  source  of  much  unhappiness  in  the  royal 
family,  were  beginning  to  occupy  a  good  deal  of  the  time  of  the  lord 
chancellor.  He  enjoyed  the  unlimited  confidence,  personal  as  well 
as  political,  of  the  king  and  queen,  and  upon  his  strong  sense  and 
kindly  manners,  the  queen  seems  to  have  built  a  hope  of  reconcilia- 
tion between  the  father  and  his  son,  for  some  time  wholly  estranged 
from  one  another.  The  way  had  been  opened  by  the  following  let- 
ter:— 

{The  Prince  of  Wales  to  Queen  Charlotte.) 

"Carlion  House,  July  4th,  1S04. 
"My  dearest  Mother, 

<l  It  is  impossible  for  me,  when  so  many  embarrassing  circumstances  surround  us, 
to  refrain  longer  from  assuring  you  of  my  undiminished  and  unalterable  tenderness. 
Believe  me  that  I  deeply  regret  the  not  having  it  in  my  power  to  do  that  in  person  ; 
for,  independent  of  what  I  suffer  from  such  a  cruel  privation,  as  the  being  separated 
from  you  and  my  sisters,  I  lament  heavily  the  not  paying  my  duty  to  the  king.  Were 
this  allowed  me,  I  should  fly  to  throw  myself  at  the  king's  feet,  and  offer  to  him  the 
testimony  of  my  ever-unvarying  attachment.  I  have  long  grieved  that  misrepresenta- 
tions have  estranged  his  majesty's  mind  from  me;  and  the  most  anxious  wish  of  my 
heart  is  for  the  opportunity  of  dispelling  that  coldness.  Every  consideration  renders 
this  distance  most  severely  painful.  My  first  object  is  the  gratification  of  the  feelings 
of  affection,  leaving  all  else  to  the  spontaneous  dictates  of  my  father's  kindness;  and, 
if  any  public  view  can  mingle  with  this  sentiment,  it  is  the  incalculable  importance 
to  his  majesty  and  to  the  country,  of  the  whole  royal  family  appearing  united  in  a 
moment  so  awful  as  the  present. 

"I  am  ever,  my  dearest  mother, 

"Your  dutiful  and  affectionate  son, 

"  GKOHGE  P." 

Her  majesty's  answer  was  in  these  words:  — 

"Kew,  July  4th,  1804. 
"  My  dearest  Son, 

"  I  have  this  instant  received,  through  the  hands  of  Lady  Aylesbury,  your  most 
affectionate,  and,  I  may  say,  most  joyful  letter.  I  am  anxious  to  acquaint  the  king 
with  the  contents,  which  I  will  do  at  the  first  opportunity,  assuring  you  that  I  shall  not 
be  behind  hand  to  seize  that  moment,  for  which  I  have  so  long  anxiously  prayed,  and 
I  trust  will  be  the  means  of  again  uniting  our  too  long  separated  family,  in  which 
event  no  one  has  suffered  more  than, 

"  My  dearest  son, 
"  Your  most  affectionate  mother  and  friend, 

"  CuAllLOTTE. 

"I cannot  say  more  at  present,  being  in  such  an  hurry." 

A  more  formal  overture  was  made  on  the  prince's  part,  in  a  letter 
to  the  lord  chancellor  from  Lord  Moira,  who  was  authorized  on  that 
occasion  to  signify  his  royal  highness's  earnest  wish,  that  the  Princess 
Charlotte  should  be  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  king,  her  grand- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  249 

father,  if  that  should  be  his  majesty's  inclination.  Lord  Moira's 
letter  appears  to  have  been  dated  17th  of  July,  1804,  but  is  not 
among  those  preserved  by  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon. 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"  Kew,  July  18th,  180-1.    10  m.  past  4  p.  M. 

"The  king  has  this  instant  received  the  lord  chancellor's  note,  enclosing  the  one  from 
the  Earl  of  Moira.  Undoubtedly  the  Prince  of  Wales's  making  the  offer  of  having  the 
dear  little  Charlotte's  education  and  principles  attended  to,  is  the  best  earnest  he  can 
give  of  returning  to  a  sense  of  what  he  owes  to  his  father,  and,  indeed,  to  his  country, 
and  may,  to  a  degree,  mollify  the  feelings  of  an  injured  father;  but  it  will  require 
some  reflection  before  the  king  can  answer  how  soon  he  can  bring  himself  to  receive 
the  publisher  of  his  letters.*  So  much  he  can  add,  at  present,  that  if  he  takes  the 
superintendence  of  his  granddaughter,  he  does  not  mean  to  destroy  the  rights  of  the 
mother;  that  therefore  the  Princess  of  Wales,  whose  injuries  deserve  the  utmost 
attention  of  the  king,  as  her  own  conduct  has  proved  irreproachable,  and  the  atten- 
tion-]- to  what  sum  the  prince  is  to  pay  for  the  maintenance  of  the  child,  though  any 
thing  which  exceeds  what  he  receives  on  that  head  from  the  public,  must  undoubtedly 
be  exonerated  by  the  king. 

"To-morrow  the  recorder  makes  his  report  at  two.  The  king  wishes,  prior  to  that, 
to  see  the  lord  chancellor. 

"  GEOHGK  R." 

(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldon.~) 

"  Windsor,  Aug.  20th,  1S04. 

"Though  the  king  trusts  his  excellent  lord  chancellor  felt  himself  authorized,  on 
Saturday,  to  acquaint  the  Prince  of  Wales,  that  in  consequence  of  what  the  Earl  of 
Moira  has  been  authorized  to  express,  his  majesty  is  willing  to  receive  the  Prince  of 
Wales  on  Wednesday  at  Kew,  provided  no  explanation  or  excuses  are  attempted  to 
be  made  by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  but  that  it  is  merely  to  be  a  visit  of  civility,  as  any 
retrospect  could  but  oblige  the  king  to  utter  truths,  which,  instead  of  healing,  must 
widen  the  present  breach, — his  majesty  will  have  the  queen,  princesses,  and,  at  least, 
of  his  sons,  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  present  on  the  occasion  ;  the  lord  chancellor  is 
to  fix  on  twelve  o'clock  for  the  hour  of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  coming  to  Kew.  The 
king  cannot  conclude  without  expressing  his  earnest  wishes  that  the  union  to  take 
place  on  Wednesday  in  the  Scott  family,  may  prove  a  source  of  happiness  to  them, 
as  his  majesty  must  ever  be  a  sharer  in  any  event  that  may  add  to  the  domestic 
felicity  of  his  lord  chancellor. 

"  GKOHGE  R." 

(King  George  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

''•  Windsor,  Aug.  20th,  1301. 

"The  king  received,  yesterday  evening,  the  lord  chancellor's  answer  to  the  letter 
wrote  that  morning,  and  this  instant,  the  one  notifying  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  will 
be  at  Kew  at  the  appointed  hour. 

"His  majesty  takes  this  opportunity  of  communicating  the  letter  he  wrote  to  the 
Princess  of  Wales,  and  her  answer;  and  has  only  to  add,  that  in  the  interview  he 
had  yesterday  at  Kew  with  the  princess,  her  whole  conduct  and  language  gave  the 
greatest  satisfaction.  She  will  entirely  be  guided  by  the  king,  who  has  directed  her 
to  state  whatever  she  pleases  to  the  lord  chancellor,  as  the  person  alone  to  be  trusted 
by  her  in  any  difficult  occasions  that  may  arise.  She  is  deserving  of  every  attention, 
and  therefore  strongly  recommended  by  the  king  to  his  lord  chancellor.  The  Earl  of 
Dartmouth,  in  her  family  arrangements,  is  also  to  be  consulted. 

"The  lord  chancellor  is  desired  to  return  these  letters. 

"  GKOHGE  R." 

Before  the  appointed  time,  however,  the  prince,  as  the  chancellor 
related  to  the  present  Lord  Eldon,  changed  his  mind,  and  desired  the 
chancellor  to  tell  the  king  he  would- not  go.  The  chancellor  ventured 

*  Referring,  perhaps,  to  the  correspondence  on  the  prince's  offer  of  military  service. 
— Ann.  Reg.  1803,  pp.  564,  &c. 
•J-  Sic  in  orig. 


250  LIFE  OF  LORD 

an  expostulation ;  to  which  the  prince  replied,  "  Sir,  who  gave  you 
authority  to  advise  me?"  Lord  Eldon  expressed  his  regret  that  he 
had  offended  his  royal  highness  in  doing  so;  "  but  then,  sir,"  con- 
tinued he,  "  lam  his  majesty's  chancellor,  and  it  is  for  me  to  judge 
what  messages  I  ought  to  take  to  his  majesty:  your  royal  highness 
must  send  some  other  messenger  with  that  communication :  I  will  not 
take  it." 

It  may  be  inferred,  however,  from  the  next  letter,  that  the  prince 
afterwards  employed  the  more  decorous  plea  of  indisposition,  as  his 
excuse  for  not  waiting  upon  his  majesty:  — 

(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldon.') 

"  Kew,  August  22d,  1801.  10  m.  past  1  P.  M. 

"The  king:,  soon  after  his  arrival  here  with  the  queen  and  his  daughters,  found  the 
Uukes  of  Kent  and  Cambridge,  since  which  the  lord  chancellor's  letter  has  been 
brought  by  aservant  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  The  king  authorizes  the  lord  chancellor 
to  express  to  the  Prince  of  Wales  his  sorrow  at  his  being  unwell ;  that  in  consequence 
of  this,  his  majesty  will  postpone  his  interview  with  the  Prince  of  Wales  until  his 
return  from  Weymouth;  and  then,  as  was  now  intended,  it  will  be  in  presence  of  his 
family  at  Kew,  of  which  the  lord  chancellor  will  be  empowered  to  give  due  notice  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

The  time  now  approached  for  the  union,  alluded  to  in  the  king's 
notes  of  the  29th  of  June  and  20th  of  August,  as  about  to  take  place 
between  the  chancellor's  eldest  son,  the  Honourable  John  Scott,  and 
Henrietta  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  Bart.,  of 
Blagdon,  in  Northumberland.  The  following  letter  from  Lord  Eldon 
to  Lady  Ridley  appears  to  have  been  written  shortly  before  the  wed- 
ding:— 
"Dear  Lady  Ridley, 

"As  Lady  Eldon's  secretary,  I  express  her  obligations  to  you  for  your  kind  note; 
for  myself,  allow  me  to  acknowledge  my  own.  The  king  very  graciously  told  me  to 
deliver  a  message  to  her  that  she  had  made  me  a  chancellor,  and  that  I  should  have 
made  myself  but  a  curate.  So  you  see  how  little  credit  we  males  have  for  all  our 
exertions,  and  how  much  you  ladies  run  away  with.  But  I  must  not  be  mortified 
with  the  truth.  It  is  a  very  considerable  addition  to  her  achievements,  that  she  has 
enabled  me  also  to  entitle  myself  to  the  expressions  of  good  opinion  which  your 
letter  contains;  lam  so  fond  of  them,  that  I  allow  myself,  perhaps,  too  readily  to 
believe  that  I  deserve  them.  A  thousand  thanks  to  you  for  your  postscript  which 
brings  me  Miss  R.'s  best  love.-  were  I  again  but  just  arrived  at  the  years  of  discretion, 
and  nobody  could  be  at  liberty  to  suspect  me  of  loving  her  but  for  herself,  i.  e.,  in  other 
words,  if  she  was  about  as  poor  as  I  then  was,  I  am  tempted  to  think  that  I  might  use 
her  so  ill  as  to  tell  her  that,  if  she  pleased,  we  would  struggle  together  through  five- 
and-twenty  such  years  as  I  have  gone  through : — which  assure  her,  I  would  not  do  to 
attain  any  earthly  object,  short  of  the  comfort  of  convincing  a  person,  whom  I  much 
loved,  that,  if  I  prevailed  upon  her  to  act  very  foolishly  for  my  sake,  there  was 
nothing  which  I  would  not  endure  for  hers. 

"  With  warm  regards  to  all  the  family, 

"  Believe  me  yours  truly, 

"  ELDON." 

The  nuptials  of  Mr.  Scott  with  Miss  Ridley  were  celebrated  on 
Wednesday,  the  22d  of  August,  1804,  in  the  church  of  St.  Marylebone, 
London. 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  1783,  when  Lord  Eldon,  then  Mr. 
John  Scott,  first  became  a  candidate  for  the  borough  of  Weobly,  he 
was  received  and  lodged  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Bridge,  the  vicar,  who, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  251 

having  a  daughter  then  a  young  child,  took  a  jocular  promise  from 
him,  that  if  he  should  ever  become  chancellor,  and  the  little  girl's 
husband  should  be  a  clergyman,  the  chancellor  would  give  that  clergy- 
man a  living.  Now  comes  the  sequel,  partly  related  by  Lord  Eldon 
himself  to  Mrs.  Forster.  After  telling  her  of  the  original  promise,  he 
proceeds:  "  Years  rolled  on, — I  came  into  office  :  when  one  morning 
I  was  told  a  young  lady  wished  to  speak  to  me ;  and  I  said  that  young 
ladies  must  be  attended  to,  so  they  must  show  her  up.  And  up  came 
a  very  pretty  young  lady,  and  she  curtsied  and  simpered,  and  said  she 
thought  I  could  not  recollect  her.  I  answered  I  certainly  did  not, 
but  perhaps  she  could  recall  herself  to  my  memory ;  so  she  asked  if  I 
remembered  the  clergyman  at  Weobly,  and  his  little  girl  to  whom  I 
had  made  a  promise.  l  Oh,  yes! '  I  said,  '  I  do,  and  I  suppose  you 
are  the  little  girl? '  She  curtsied,  and  said,  '  Yes.'  '  And  I  suppose 
you  are  married  to  a  clergyman?'  '  No,'  she  said,  and  she  blushed, 
'  I  am  only  going  to  be  married  to  one,  if  you,  my  lord,  will  give  him 
a  living.'  Well,  I  told  her  to  come  back  in  a  few  days ;  and  I  made 
inquiries  to  ascertain  from  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  that  the  gentle- 
man she  was  going  to  be  married  to  was  a  respectable  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England ;  and  then  I  looked  at  my  list,  and  found  I 
actually  had  a  living  vacant  that  I  could  give  him.  So  when  the 
young  lady  came  back  I  told  her  she  might  return  home  and  get  mar- 
ried as  fast  as  she  liked,  for  her  intended  husband  should  be  presented 
to  a  living,  and  I  would  send  the  papers  as  soon  as  they  could  be 
made  out.  'Oh,  no!'  she  exclaimed,  and  again  she  simpered  and 
blushed,  and  curtsied ;  '  pray,  my  lord,  let  me  take  them  back  myself.7 
I  was  a  good  deal  amused :  so  I  actually  had  the  papers  made  out, 
and  I  signed  them,  and  she  took  them  back  herself  the  following  day. 
Is  it  not  remarkable  that  I  should  have  given  that  promise  in  early 
life,  and  that  it  should  actually  have  been  fulfilled?" 

In  one  or  two  particulars,  Lord  Eldon's  memory  of  this  little  inci- 
dent seems  to  have  been  inaccurate  ;  but  they  are  of  no  importance 
to  the  point  of  the  story.  The  fact  turns  out  to  be,  that  the  young 
lady's  application  to  him  was  not  generally  for  a  living,  but  for  the 
living  of  Stanton-upon-Arrow,  in  Herefordshire.  A  couple  of  months 
before,  she  had  written  him  the  following  letter,  which  was  found 
among  his  papers :  — 

"  Weobly,  July  9th,  1804. 
"  My  Lord, 

"I  hope  you  will  excuse  the  liberty  I  take  in  addressing  you,  and  also  reminding 
you  of  a  promise  you  did  me  the  honour  of  making,  in  favour  of  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Jones,  of  Weobly,  in  case  the  living  of  Stanton-upon-Arrow  should  become  vacant 
and  you  had  the  disposal  of  it.  The  present  incumbent,  Mr.  Guesi,  is  now  extremely 
ill,  having  had  two  or  three  paralytic  strokes,  and  his  decease  expected  everyday. 
I  hope  yon  will  pardon  my  mentioning  the  above,  which  I  should  not  have  done  but 
from  fear  that  it  might  in  so  long  a  time  have  escaped  your  recollection,  as  there  is 
no  doubt  you  will  have  many  applications  for  the  living,  though  it  is  a  very  small 
one. 

"I  am,  with  the  greatest  respect, 
"  .My  lord, 

"  Your  lordship's 
"Most  grateful  and  most  obedient  servant, 

"Soi'HIA  13U1DGE." 


252  LIFE  OF  LORD 

An  old  female  servant,  who  lived  with  Mr.  Guest,  and  afterwards 
with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones,  relates  that  when  Mr.  Guest  was  drawing 
towards  his  end  in  1804,  a  person  was  kept  in  waiting  to  carry  the 
intelligence  of  his  death  to  Miss  Bridge.  The  event  happened  on  the 
evening  of  Friday,  the  14th  of  September.  Either  on  the  Saturday, 
or  on  the  Monday,  Miss  Bridge  started  for  London,  and  there  it  was 
that  she  got  access  to  the  chancellor ;  not  without  great  resistance  on 
the  part  of  his  servants,  from  whom,  however,  she  would  take  no 
denial;  and  she  returned  into  Herefordshire,  bringing  back  with  her 
the  presentation  for  Mr.  Jones,  who  was  in  actual  possession  of  the 
living  before  the  month  was  out. 

It  might  well  be  supposed  that  the  marriage  now  took  place  imme- 
diately ;  but  Mr.  Jones,  having  secured  the  living,  exhibited  a  luke- 
warmness  which  contrasts  very  uncreditably  with  the  activity,  enthu- 
siasm and  devotedness  of  his  benefactress.  The  old  servant  relates 
that  the  marriage  did  not  take  place  till  more  than  two  years  after- 
wards, and  that  many  supposed  it  never  would.  At  length,  however, 
it  was  solemnized,  by  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Williams  ;  whose  daughter's 
husband,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  of  his,  has  corroborated  the  story  of 
the  bridegroom's  backwardness,  relating  that  "Jones  would  have 
jilted  the  lady,  but  was  shamed  into  the  fulfilment  of  his  engagement 
by  the  friends  and  relations  of  both  parties."  The  same  letter,  after 
stating  that  the  wedding  took  place  at  Stanton,  adds,  "  Miss  Bridge, 
with  her  party,  arrived  there  from  Hereford  in  a  post-chaise.  She  re- 
fused, however,  to  enter  the  parsonage-house  until  she  did  so  as  his  wife." 

The  whole  history — the  energy  of  the  journey  to  London,  the  mor- 
tified but  yet  enduring  attachment,  the  womanly  spirit  that  withheld 
her  from  entering,  but  as  its  mistress,  the  house  which  she  had  gained 
and  given  to  its  ungrateful  occupant — all  these  things  leave  a  high 
impression  of  this  lady's  character.  Surviving  her  husband,  and  being 
left  in  indigent  circumstances,  she  again  bethought  her  of  her  early 
patron:  "and  then,"  says  the  same  letter,  "she  applied  to  Lord 
Eldon,  to  obtain  for  her  an  admission  into  a  recently  instituted 
establishment,  near  Bath,  for  the  support,  maintenance,  comfort  and 
benefit  of  the  widows  of  clergymen  and  others."  Lord  Eldon  not  only 
complied  with  her  request,  but  sent  her  money  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  her  removal. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Lord  Eldon,  after  having,  on  his  acces- 
sion to  the  great  seal,  appointed  Mr.  Moises  to  be  one  of  his  own 
chaplains,  took  an  early  occasion  to  offer  him  some  more  solid  pre- 
ferment, which  Mr.  Moises,  with  the  utmost  gratitude  and  respect, 
declined,  on  account  of  his  advanced  age.  Lord  Eldon,  wishing  to 
give  his  worthy  preceptor  an  opportunity  for  reconsidering  this  reso- 
lution, now  offered  him  another  benefice,  together  with  some  advance- 
ment for  both  his  sons.  The  consistent  and  venerable  old  man 
returned  an  answer,  which,  however  quaint  and  ungainly  in  point  of 
style,  is  good  evidence  of  his  high  principle  and  sincere  piety : — 

"  Newcastle,  Sept.  29th,  1SO-1. 
"My  dearest  Lord,  and  generous  Patron, 
"Never  have  I  been  upon  any  occasion  so  much  at  a  loss  for  words  to  express  the 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  253 

vivacity  of  my  feelings  as  at  this  moment.  It  hath  been  my  destiny,  through  the 
whole  of  my  life,  not  to  have  many  calls  of  gratitude  to  any  other  than  your  lord- 
ship; indeed,  no  favours  beyond  mutual  civilities  have  been  received  by  me,  except- 
ing from  yourself;  nor  is  this  spoken  with  the  least  regret  or  in  accents  of  complaint; 
for  I  could  never  have  supported  myself  under  the  weight  of  any  solid  obligation, 
unless  I  might  have  indulged  to  boundless  respect  and  esteem,  wilh  credit  from  the 
distinguished  worth  of  the  benefactor:  and  it  is  this  individual  circumstance,  which 
has  rendered  your  repeated  remembrances  of  me  so  exquisitely  relishing. 

"The  benefice  your  lordship  is  so  good  to  offer  would  have  been  most  acceptable 
to  me,  if  I  had  possessed  strength  to  discharge  its  sacred  duties  with  effect.  I  am, 
this  day  only  within  a  few  months  of  closing  my  83d  year,  and  of  course  begin  to 
experience  the  approach  of  infirmities,  not  visible  to  others  because  not  complained 
of,  but  which  I  feel  myself. 

"  My  son  William  most  gratefully  will  exchange  his  rectory  of  Yelling  for  the 
vicarage  of  Felton,  because  it  will  give  him  a  handsome  establishment  in  his  native 
county,  and  at  the  same  time  free  him  from  the  painful  consciousness  of  non-resi- 
dence. For  now  he  will  have  easy  opportunities  of  knowing  his  people  and  inspect- 
ing their  manners. 

"Hugh  has  been  passing  a  few  days  at  Wallington,  and  returns  on  Monday;  when 
he  shall  do  himself  the  honour  of  addressing  his  duty  and  thanks  to  his  liberal  bene- 
factor. The  young  man  is,  I  believe,  heartily  tired  of  the  insipidity,  the  uselessness, 
the  insignificance  of  a  college  life  without  employment;  and  his  prospects  of  prefer- 
ment from  thence  are  so  distant  and  so  dim,  that  I  cannot  but  suppose  he  will  rejoice 
in  being  settled  in  a  reputable  incumbency  by  the  very  highest  and  most  respectable 
patronage.  But  I  have  strangely  forgot  myself  by  writing  so  long  a  letter,  and  yet  I 
must  entreat  that  my  most  respectful  compliments  be  tendered  to  Lady  Eldon,  and 
that  she  be  assured  that  I  often  recollect  my  early  acquaintance  with  much  satisfac- 
tion. 

"And'now, my  good  lord,  from  a  heart  burning  with  gratitude,  veneration  and  love, 
allow  me  to  profess  myself  your  lordship's  forever  obliged,  most  dutiful  chaplain  and 
servant, 

"  HUGH  MOISES." 

Toward  the  close  of  the  autumn,  the  chancellor  appears  to  have 
paid  a  visit  to  their  majesties  at  Weymouth.  On  his  road  back  he 
met  the  Miss  Farrers  travelling  thither,  and  the  carriages  of  both 
parties  were  halted  for  the  exchange  of  a  little  conversation.  He 
made  this  incident  the  subject  of  a  lively  letter  to  one  of  them  a  few 
weeks  afterwards. 

{Lord  Eldon  to  Miss  Frances  L.  Fairer.") — (Extracts.) 

(About  December,  1804.) 

"I  hope  you  have  all  been  well  since  I  had  the  little  conversation  with  you  on  the 
king's  highway.  I  think  his  majesty  would  have  given  me  his  gracious  pardon,  if  I 
had  robbed  Mrs.  Farrer  of  both  of  you.  Our  meeting  was  a  most  sweet  incident  in 
a  dull  journey  ;  but  such  is  the  strange  constitution  of  such  a  being  as  I  am,  that,  the 
moment  I  lost  sight  of  you,  instead  of  being  grateful  for  the  happiness  I  had  had,  the 
ray  of  cheerfulness  which  I  had  seen  during  our  short  intercourse,  increased,  by  the 
contrast,  the  dull  scene  which  a  long  solo  in  my  own  company  presented  to  me.  I 
hope  you  all  liked  Weymouth  much ;  only  remember  another  year  to  come  there  the 
day  before  I  leave  it. 

******** 

"This  place  is  all  run  mad  about  young  Roscius,  and  this  little  boy  is  said  to  be 
the  very  greatest  man  that  ever  trod  the  boards  of  old  Drury  or  Covent  Garden.  In 
short,  there  is  such  a  rage  about  him,  that  I  can't  find  that  there  is  a  young  lady  in 
London,  who  would  not  abandon  for  ever  the  dearest  idol  of  her  heart,  if  he  presumed 
to  doubt  whether  this  little  fellow  is  not  monstrous  great." 


254  LIFE  OF  LORD 

CHAPTER  XXL 
1804—1805. 

Education  of  the  Princess  Charlotte,  and  differences  of  the  king  and  Prince  of 
Wales  respecting  it:  their  letters:  memoranda  and  letters  of  the  lord  chancellor, 
Mr.  Pitt  and  Lord  Moira. — Endeavours  of  Mr.  Pitt  to  strengthen  the  ministry :  let- 
ters of  the  king  and  the  Duke  of  Kent. — Habeas  Corpus  in  Ireland. — Lord  Eldon 
at  cards. — University  College  Club. 

THE  meeting  appointed  between  the  king  and  the  prince  having,  by 
reason  of  the  prince's  alleged  indisposition,  been  deferred  till  the 
return  of  their  majesties  from  Weymouth  at  the  close  of  the  autumn, 
the  king  then  renewed  the  appointment  for  an  interview,  the  result  of 
which  he  thus  communicates  to  the  chancellor : — 

(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldon. ~) 

"Windsor  Castle,  Nov.  13th,  1804. 

"The  king  is  so  sensible  of  the  attachment  to  his  person  of  his  lord  chancellor, 
that  he  thinks  it  right  to  acquaint  him  that  the  interview  yesterday  at  Kew  was  every 
way  decent;  and,  as  both  parties  avoided  any  subjects  but  those  of  the  most  trifling 
kind,  certainly  it  has  done  no  harm,  and  leaves  it  to  the  Prince  of  Wales's  future 
conduct  to  show  whether  the  sentiments  the  Earl  of  Moira  flatters  himself  to  have 
found  are  genuine. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

On  the  subject  of  the  same  interview  there  is  a  note  from  Mr.  Pitt 
to  Lord  Eldon,  which  leaves  no  very  favourable  impression  of  some 
of  the  persons  then  admitted  to  the  prince's  confidence  : — 

"  Downing  Street,  Monday,  half  past  6,  Nov.  12ih,  1S04. 
"My  dear  Lord, 

"The  account  I  have  just  had  of  the  interview  tallies  in  the  main  with  that  sent 
you ;  but  with  the  addition  of  great  lamentations  at  having  found  the  king  so  much 
broken  in  all  respects.  I  find  great  efforts  may  be  expected  to  be  immediately  made  to 
prevent  any  further  progress  towards  real  reconciliation ;  but  still  my  informant  thinks 
the  disposition  is  favourable.  Some  particulars  have  been  mentioned  to  me,  which 
makes  me  think  it  material  to  remain  within  reach  of  further  communication;  and 
I  have,  therefore,  determined  to  give  up  my  visit  to  my  brother,  and  shall  remain  in 
town. 

"  Faithfully  yours, 

"  W.  PITT." 

The  professed  object  of  the  prince's  overture  to  the  king  having 
been  to  place  in  his  majesty's  disposal  the  arrangements  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  Princess  Charlotte,  the  following  paper,  in  the  nature  of 
an  instruction  for  the  chancellor  on  this  important  matter,  was  inclosed 
to  him  in  a  note  from  the  king,  dated  22d  November,  1804:— 

"  Enclosure.— The  Prince  of  Wales  having,  through  the  Earl  of  Moira,  expressed 
his  wish  that  the  education  and  care  of  the  person  of  his  daughter  should  be  placed 
under  the  immediate  inspection  of  the  king,  his  majesty  is  willing  to  take  this  charge 
on  himself,  and  has  prepared  a  house  at  Windsor  for  the  reception  of  the  Princess 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  255 

Charlotte.  The  sum  now  issued  each  quarter  out  of  his  majesty's  civil  list,  for  the 
maintenance  and  education  of  the  young  princess,  should  in  future  be  paid  into  the 
hands  of  the  person  who  shall  be  named  by  the  king,  to  defray  those  expenses ;  and 
such  additional  charges  as  may  arise  from  the  change  of  establishment  will  be  de- 
frayed by  the  king. 

"His  majesty  proposes  to  name  a  bishop  to  superintend  Princess  Charlotte's  edu- 
cation, as  it  cannot  be  that  alone  of  a  female,  but  she,  being  the  presumptive  heir  of 
the  crown,  must  have  one  of  a  more  extended  nature.  His  majesty  also  thinks  it 
desirable  that  the  bishop  should  fix  on  a  proper  clergyman  to  instruct  the  young  prin- 
cess in  religion  and  Latin  and  daily  to  read  prayers:  that  there  should  be  another 
instructor  for  history,  geography,  belles  lettres  and  French ;  and  masters  for  writing, 
music  and  dancing;  that  the  care  and  behaviour  of  the  princess  should  be  entrusted 
to  a  governess;  and  (as  she  must  be  both  day  and  night  under  the  care  of  respon- 
sible persons)  that  a  sub-governess  and  assistant  sub-governess  should  be  named. 

"  These  seem  the  necessary  outlines  to  form  such  a  plan  as  may  make  so  promising 
a  child  turn  out,  as  it  is  the  common  interest  of  the  king  and  his  family,  and,  indeed, 
the  whole  nation,  eagerly  to  wish." 

This  paper  was  communicated,  under  date  the  23d  November,  by 
the  chancellor,  to  the  prince,  who  was  dissatisfied  with  it,  and  returned 
it  to  the  chancellor,  desiring  that  he  and  Mr.  Pitt  would  make  certain 
explanations  to  the  king.  After  several  letters  between  the  prince  and 
the  chancellor,  the  king's  displeasure  against  his  son  evinced  itself  in 
the  following  note  : — 


o 


(King  George  HI.  to  Lord  Eldm.) 

"  Windsor  Castle,  Dec  16th,  1804. 

"  The  king,  though  he  has  banished  every  spark  of  irritation  and  impatience,  from 
feeling  truth  and  fair  dealing  is  the  honourable  line  to  combat  misapprehension,  chi- 
cane and  untruth,  has,  \vith  stoical  indifference,  waited  the  arrival  of  some  informa- 
tion from  his  lord  chancellor.  The  letter  before  him  states  that  at  length  the  Earl  of 
Moira  is  summoned  to  town,  consequently,  a  quicker  progress  is  soon  to  be  expected. 
The  king  will  certainly  be  at  the  queen's  palace  on  Wednesday,  at  two  o'clock,  when 
he  trusts  the  lord  chancellor  will  bring  him  a  copy  of  the  Earl  of  Moira's  paper  of 
last  July,  wherein  it  is  expressly  offered  that  the  king  should  have  the  sole  and  exclu- 
sive care  of  the  person  and  education  of  his  dear  granddaughter;  to  which  the  lord 
chancellor  was  authorized  to  declare  that  his  majesty,  in  taking  the  superior  direc- 
tion, never  intended  to  destroy  the  due  inspection  and  parental  rights  of  both  parents. 

"  GEORGE  JR." 

A  good  deal  of  correspondence  took  place  in  the  course  of  the  same 
month  of  December,  1804,  between  the  chancellor  and  Lord  Moira, 
respecting  the  construction  to  be  put  on  certain  papers  which  had 
passed  to  and  from  the  negotiating  parties.  "  We  shall  not  get  on," 
says  Lord  Moira,  in  a  letter  to  the  chancellor,  dated  St.  James's 
Place,  December  24th,  1804,— 

"unless  your  lordship  will  apprise  his  majesty  what  is  the  real  pressure  on  the 
prince's  mind.  Out  of  a  fitting  delicacy,  and  from  a  wish  to  spare  his  majesty  the 
unpleasant  necessity  of  entering  into  the  causes  of  his  dissatisfactions,  his  royal 
highness  directed  me  only  to  specify  as  a  condition,  that  Princess  Charlotte  was  to 
be  committed  to  the  care  of  his  majesty  exclusively.*  But  I  had  the  honour  of  ex- 
plaining to  you  that  this  was  meant  to  bar  all  interference  on  the  part  of  the  Princess 
of  Wales.  Most  unfortunately  there  happened,  just  at  the  moment  when  the  arrange- 
ments were  to  be  made,  a  more  marked  display  of  intercourse  between  his  majesty 
and  the  Princess  of  Wales  than  had  taken  place  for  a  long  time  before.  Whether 
this  may  have  had  relation  to  the  establishment  of  the  Princess  Charlotte  or  not,  is 
no  matter.  The  public,  arguing  from  appearances,  so  connects  it ;  and  that  is  suffi- 
cient to  rouse  the  prince's  apprehension.  Hence  his  royal  highness  laid  particular 

*  The  force  of  this  word,  as  used  in  Lord  Moira's  first  letter  of  17th  July,  1804,  is 
much  urged  on  the  prince's  side,  throughout  this  correspondence. 


256  LIFE  OF  LOUD 

stress  on  this  point,  that  he  should  seem*  to  be  acting  solely  upon  what  he  had  under- 
stood to  he  the  kin^s  wish.  With  this  principle  the  preamble  of  the  paper,  dated 
23d  of  November,  did  not  agree.  The  differences  now  existing  may  be  easily  reme- 
died by  explanalion;  but  they  will  not  be  surmounted  without  it.  I  have,  at  the  same 
time,  the  happiness  to  assure  your  lordship  that  nothing  can  breathe  more  duty  or 
more  ardent  affection  to  the  king  than  every  sentence  I  have  heard  from  the  prince 
in  the  discussion  of  this  subject. 

"  I  have  the  honour, 

"  My  lord,  to  be,  with  perfect  respect, 
"  Your  lordship's  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

"MOIHA." 

"The  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Chancellor." 

The  next  two  documents  were  found  among  the  papers  of  Lord 
Eldon.  The  first  is  indorsed  by  him,  "  Mdm.  drawn  at  Mr.  Pitt's, 
not  formally  delivered  over.  26th  December,  1804." 

"  The  prince's  notion  is,  that  if  the  Princess  of  Wales  shall  appear  to  have  inter- 
ference in  the  original  arrangement,  or  shall  have  the  Princess  Charlotte  subsequently 
under  her  guidance,  his  royal  highness  will  be  liable  to  the  misrepresentation  that 
the  king  has  sought  to  take  his  daughter  out  of  his  hands  upon  some  charge  of 
neglect." 

(Memorandum  fur  the  Lord  Chancellor,  (probably  prepared  by  Lord  Moira.} 

"  Dec.  2Gih,  1804. 

"The  point  upon  which  the  prince  rests  is  this  : — That  it  is  requisite  the  arrange- 
ment should  be  entirely  between  the  king  and  him;  and  that  the  Princess  of  Wales 
ought  not  to  have,  or  appear  to  have,  any  interference  in  it.  This,  of  course,  is  not 
understood  to  affect  his  majesty's  pleasure,  as  to  any  communication  he  may  think 
fit  to  make  to  the  princess.  The  prince  has  not  the  most  distant  notion  of  prevent- 
ing the  Princess  of  Wales  from  having  all  the  intercourse  with  Princess  Charlotte 
which  her  royal  highness  has  hitherto  held;  nor  does  his  royal  highness  object  to  her 
residence  in  the  house  prepared  at  Windsor,  in  her  occasional  visits  there,  provided 
such  residence  be  not  so  long  as  to  countenance  the  idea  which  the  prince  wishes  to 
avoid." 

(Memorandum,  by  Lord  Eldon.} 

"26th  December,  1504. 

"  At  Mr.  Pitt's  this  morning  two  points  were  stated. 

"  First.  That  the  prince  wished  to  nominate  the  governor,  governesses,  &c. 

"Secondly.  As  to  the  prince's  sending  for  Princess  Charlotte  to  Carlton  House. 

"  Memorandum.  The  former  of  these  points  was  mentioned,  also,  and  particularly 
by  the  prince,  at  Carlton  House  this  day,  when  Lord  Moira  and  I  waited  upon  him, 
the  prince  having  first  stated  that  the  king  understood  that  he,  the  prince,  would  not 
see  the  chancellor,  which  he  said  was  a  strange  fabrication  of  the  king,  or  a  malicious 
suggestion  of  some  other  person.  He  said  he  was  advised  that  he  had  the  right,  and 
that  it  was  his  duty  to  nominate  governors,  and  mentioned  Lord  Thurlow  as  of  opin- 
ion, that  the  present  twelve  judges  would  so  hold: — that  the  ten,  who  held  otherwise 
in  1717  were  wrong: — that  the  preamble  in  the  Royal  Marriage  Act  made  no  differ- 
ence ;  (his  royal  highness  so  stating,  when  I  mentioned  that  I  thought  Lord  T.  was 
not  always  of  the  opinion  now  stated  )  I  further  said,  that  those  who  advised  his 
royal  highness  properly,  would  advise  him  as  the  Prince  of  Wales  who  might  be 
king.  That  I  apprehended  that  nothing  could  be  so  mischievous  as  litigating  a  point 
of  this  kind;  that  I  was  not  aware  that  his  majesty  had  any  such  intention;  that,  in 
the  plan  of  education  and  in  the  appointment  of  governors,  he  wished  to  pay  due 
regard  to  both  the  parents;  and  that  I  conceived,  if  there  was  any  question  upon  the 
right,  or  his  royal  highness  was  so  advised,  that  the  king,  after  communicating  his 
intentions  as  to  the  persons  to  be  nominated  to  his  royal  highness,  and  taking  along 
with  him  his  concurrence,  and  fairly  attending  to  all  his  objections,  might  nominate 
in  such  a  way  as  that  the  transaction  should  leave  the  question  of  right  exactly  as  it 
stood  at  this  moment,  neither  admitting,  nor  denying,  nor  asserting,  that  it  was  either 

*  In  a  subsequent  letter,  27th  Dec.  1804,  Lord  Moira  desired  to  substitute  the  word 
"  appear,"  Jest  the  word  "  seem"  should  imply  that  the  prince  was  "  indifferent  to  the 
essential,  provided  the  ostensible  was  secured." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  257 

in  the  king  or  the  prince;  but  that  if  this  business  ended,  as  it  was  to  be  hoped  it 
•would,  upon  the  fact  of  the  propositions  that  had  passed,  no  question  of  ri»ht 
should  be  in  any  degree  prejudiced  or  affected.  The  prince  stopped  me,  and  said  it 
was  unnecessary  to  say  more — it  was  quite  right,  or  to  that  effect. 

"In  substance  this  was  what  passed,  when  Lord  Moira,  Mr.  Pitt  and  myself  con- 
versed together  in  Downing  Street. 

"  Upon  the  other  point,  not  a  word  was  said  at  Carlton  House.  At  Mr.  Pitt's  it 
was  stated,  both  by  Mr.  Pitt  and  by  myself,  that  we  apprehended  there  could  be  no 
objection  to  the  prince's  sending  for  Princess  Charlotte  to  Carlton  House  occasion- 
ally, her  stay  there  being,  in  length  of  time,  such  as  made  her  residence  in  the  nature 
of  a  visit,  and  consistent  in  that  view  of  it,  with  her  being  under  the  king's  guidance. 
It  was  urged  that  the  state  of  the  king's  health  might  make  a  difference;  to  which  it 
was  answered,  that  nothing  could  be  said  or  stipulated  with  reference  to  such  a  cir- 
cumstance, for  obvious  reasons. 

"The  prince,  in  his  conversation  to-day,  was  particularly  anxious  that  he  should 
be  understood  to  be  acting  upon  the  king's  wish  to  have  the'care  of  the  princess,  and 
that  his  conduct  was  regulated  by  a  desire  to  consult  his  majesty's  wishes,  and  not 
from  the  want  of  great  anxiety  to  regulate  this  important  matter  himself." 

In  pursuance  of  the  good  understanding  which  had  now  been  at- 
tained, the  following  paper  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Pitt  and  the  chan- 
cellor on  the  king's  behalf,  and  communicated  to  the  prince  about  the 
close  of  December: — 

"End  of  Dec.  1804. 

"His  majesty,  in  the  paper  which  the  lord  chancellor  communicated  by  the  king's 
command  on  the  23d  November  to  the  prince,  referred  in  ihe  preamble  to  the  prince's 
wish,  expressed  through  the  Earl  of  Moira.  That  wish  was  expressed  in  the  earl's 
letter  of  the  17th  July  last,  in  which  the  lord  chancellor  was  requested  to  tender  the 
prince's  humble  duty  to  his  majesty,  with  the  profession  that,  if  it  was  his  majesty's 
inclination,  nothing  could  be  more  highly  gratifying  to  the  prince  than  to  see  the 
Princess  Charlotte  taken  under  the  king's  special  direction. 

"  His  majesty,  therefore,  in  the  preamble  of  the  paper,  referred  to  the  wish  which 
had  been  so  communicated  on  the  part  of  the  prince,  and  has  accordingly  considered 
the  communication  through  the  Earl  of  Moira,  as  representing  that  the  prince  wished 
to  see  the  Princess  Charlotte  taken  under  his  majesty's  special  direction,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  prince's  understanding  that  such  was  his  majesty's  wish  and  desire. 

"The  king  repeats,  what  he  has  before  stated  to  the  lord  chancellor  and  Mr.  Pitt, 
and  which  he  has  been  informed  they  represented  to  the  Earl  of  Moira,  that  his  ma- 
jesty regarded  the  communication  from  the  prince,  founded  upon  his  desire  to  gratifV 
what  he  understood  to  be  the  king's  wishes,  as  a  step  very  acceptable  to  his  majesty 
and  conformable  to  the  sentiments  of  duty  which  the  prince  had  expressed. 

"  His  majesty  has  uniformly  stated  that,  in  his  taking  upon  himself  the  care  and 
management  of  the  Princess  Charlotte,  he  must  be  understood  to  do  so  in  a  sense 
consistent  with  all  the  attention  due  to  each  of  the  parents  of  the  princess. 

"His  meaning  was  to  form  the  best  plan  he  could  for  the  education  and  govern- 
ance of  the  princess,  and  to  refer  that  plan  to  the  consideration  of  the  prince,  and 
to  make  such  communications  respecting  it  to  the  Princess  of  Wales  as  the  nature 
of  their  respective  relations  to  the  Princess  Charlotte  seemed  to  require.  It  will  be 
his  majesty's  earnest  desire  to  act  according  to  this  principle. 

"His  majesty  has  great  satisfaction  in  believing  that  there  is  reason  to  think,  that 
the  prince  is  likely  to  concur  in  the  measures  proposed  by  his  majesty,  if  the  misap- 
prehensions which  have  been  entertained  are  removed ;  and  he  trusts  that  the  expla- 
nations which  have  taken  place  may  effectually  remove  them.  If  that  should  happilv 
be  the  case,  his  majesty  will  proceed  to  state,  for  the  consideration  of  the  prince,  the 
names  of  the  persons  who  may  appear  proper  to  fill  the  very  important  stations  men- 
tioned in  his  majesty's  paper;  and  as  this  measure  originated  and  has  been  carried 
on  in  consequence  of  the  prince's  having  expressed  a  wish  Jio  meet  his  majesty's 
inclination,  it  will  be  most  satisfactory  to  the  king  that  the  arrangement  should  be 
completed  upon  the  same  footing,  and  that  his  majesty's  choice  should  be  made  with 
the  prince's  entire  concurrence." 

The  prince's  answer  to  this  document  has  not  been  found ;  but  its 
purport  appears  from  the  following  letters  of  the  king : — 
VOL.  i. — 17 


258  LIFE  OF  LORD 

(King  George.  III.  to  Lord  Eldon.}— (Extract.) 

"  Windsor  Castle,  Jan.  5th,  IS05. 

"The  king  received  the  lord  chancellor's  note,  accompanying  the  paper  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  intended  as  an  answer  to  the  one  drawn  up  by  the  lord  chancellor 
and  Mr.  Pitt;  which,  having  met  with  his  majesty's  approbation,  he  sent  a  copy  of  it 
on  the  31st  of  last  month  to  be  delivered  or  sent  by  the  lord  chancellor  to  the  Prince 
of  Wales.  His  majesty  entirely  joins  in  opinion  with  the  lord  chancellor  and  Mr. 
Pitt,  that  undoubtedly  the  paper  contains  expressions  liable  to  observations  ;  but,  if 
the  king  was  to  enter  into  such  minute  discussion,  the  main  object  might  be  retarded  : 
and,  as  truth,  and  what  he  owes  to  his  subjects,  have  alone  dictated  his  conduct,  pro- 
vided right  is  effected,  he  will  not  stoop  to  cavilling  on  words,  which  is  ever  the  path 
of  those  actuated  by  meaner  sentiments.  The  king  has  therefore  drawn  up  a  paper 
this  morning,  which  he  trusts  is  consonant  with  the  opinion  contained  in  the  lord 
chancellor's  note,  which, if  the  lord  chancellor  views  in  the  same  light,  he  desires  may 
be  forwarded  to  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

"GEORGE  R." 

The  enclosure,  contained  in  this  note,  is  an  authority  from  the  king 
to  the  chancellor,  to  acquaint  the  prince  with  his  majesty's  satisfac- 
tion at  the  prince's  answer,  and  to  inform  his  royal  highness  that  the 
king  will  shortly  transmit  to  him,  for  his  consideration,  the  names  of 
proper  persons  to  undertake  the  care  and  instruction  of  the  Princess 
Charlotte;  "who,"  adds  his  majesty, 

"  has  every  gift  from  nature  to  render  her  capable  of  profiting  by  that  care  and 
attention  which  may  render  her  in  future  an  honour  to  her  family,  and  a  blessing  to 
those,  if  it  pleases  the  Almighty  to  preserve  her  life,  who  must,  in  a  future  day,  ac- 
knowledge her  as  their  sovereign." 

The  young  princess,  thus  consigned  to  the  care  of  the  king,  pre- 
sently became  an  object  of  great  interest  to  his  majesty,  as  will  be 
seen  from  a  few  short  extracts  of  his  letters  to  Lord  Eldon  : — 

"  Windsor  Castle,  Feb.  25th,  1805. 

"  It  is  quite  charming  to  see  the  princess  and  her  child  together,  of  which  I  have 
been,  since  yesterday, a  witness;  and  I  must  add  that  Lady  de  Clifford's  conduct  is 
most  proper,  and  will  also  be  highly  conducive  to  her  meeting  with  my  approbation. 
"  The  lord  chancellor's  business  is  full  excuse  for  his  non-appearance  this  evening; 
but  the  king  could  not  allow  that  any  festivity  should  be  under  his  roof  to  which  the 
lord  chancellor  was  not  invited. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

"  March  1st,  1805. 
***** 

"From  what  he  has  seen  of  his  dear  granddaughter,  in  the  few  days  she  has  been 
there,*  he  doubts  not  but  that,  with  the  proper  attention  of  those  now  placed  to  super- 
intend her  education,  and  the  upright  conduct,  in  all  situations,  of  the  governess  who 
is  to  have  the  care  of  her,  she  will  prove  a  blessing  to  her  relations  and  an  honour  to 
her  native  country. 

"GEORGE  R." 

On  all  questions,  however,  relating  to  the  prince,  the  king's  letters 
to  the  chancellor,  of  which  there  are  many  more,  continue  to  be  of  an 
uneasy  character.  Thus,  in  directing  the  chancellor  to  prepare  an 
answer  to  a  paper  of  instructions  drafted  by  the  prince  for  the  guidance 
of  the  persons  entrusted  with  the  Princess  Charlotte's  education,  the 
king  describes  that  paper  as  a  "  very  improper  and  unfair"  one,  and 
proceeds : —  * 

"March  10th,  1805. 

"His  majesty  must  either  have  the  whole  care  and  superintendence  of  the  person, 
and  education  of  the  Princess  Charlotte,  or  entirely  decline  any  interference  or  ex- 

*At  Windsor. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  259 

pense  ;  by  this  he  in  no  means  proposes  to  interfere  with  her  visiting  both  the  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Wales  when  they  require  it,  and  will  for  that  purpose  fix  her  the 
next  winter  at  Kensington  for  that  season,  that  the  prince  and  princess  may  with  less 
Inconvenience  visit  her,  or  send  for  her  at  that  season  to  their  respective  houses  :  but 
Windsor  will  be  her  residence  for  the  greatest  part  of  the  year,  where  she  will  have 
the  advantage  of  excellent  air  and  a  retired  garden,  which  will  enable  her,  quietly  and 
with  effect  to  pursue  her  studies,  which  certainly  as  yet  have  been  but  little  attended 
to.  The  lord  chancellor  is  desired  to  take  a  copy  for  the  king  of  this  returned  paper 
of  instructions,  and  prepare  the  paper  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who 
certainly  means  further  chicane. 

"GEORGE  R."* 

In  point  of  manner  the  prince  has  the  advantage  throughout  these 
negotiations.  He  never  forgets  the  respect  due  to  his  father  and  sove- 
reign, though  the  king  takes  little  pains  to  conceal  his  unfavourable 
opinion  of  his  son.  The  king  was,  perhaps,  too  harsh  in  his  general 
tone  toward  the  prince;  and  the  prince,  upon  every  point  with  which 
his  consort  was  connected,  however  remotely,  was  unjust  and  sensitive 
even  to  soreness.  Between  these  very  adverse  dispositions  of  the 
sovereign  and  the  heir  apparent,  any  mediator  less  prudent  and  con- 
ciliatory than  Lord  Eldon  would  not  only  have  perplexed  himself, 
but  probably  lost  the  good  opinion  of  both  the  contesting  parties.  It 
was  his  rare  wisdom  and  fortune,  in  preserving  the  regard  and  esteem 
of  the  one,  to  layfa  foundation  for  the  lasting  friendship  of  the  other. 

Mr.  Pitt  had  been  anxious  to  strengthen  his  ministry  during  the 
vacation,  by  individual  reinforcements  from  the  powerful  ranks  of 
the  opposition.  But  Lord  Grenville,  Lord  Spencer  and  Mr.  Wind- 
ham,  as  well  as  the  whole  party  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Fox,  ad- 
hered immovably  to  their  demand  of  a  comprehensive  ministry ;  and 
to  such  an  arrangement,  the  king's  objection  against  Mr.  Fox  opposed 
obstacles  altogether  insurmountable.  The  only  resource  of  Mr.  Pitt 
was,  therefore,  to  repair  his  ancient  fellowship  with  the  minister 
whom  he  had  displaced.  Mr.  Addington,  in  returning  to  office, 
would,  both  by  his  parliamentary  connection  and  by  that  personal 
favour  of  the  sovereign  which  he  was  known  peculiarly  to  enjoy,  be 
likely  to  improve  the  position  of  the  government  in  some  of  its  most 
important  relations :  and  accordingly,  soon  after  Christmas,  he  was 
brought  back  into  the  cabinet  as  president  of  the  council,  with  the 
title  of  Viscount  Sidmouth,  accompanied  by  his  friend  the  Earl  of 
Buckinghamshire  as  chancellor  of  the  duchy  of  Lancaster.  The  new 
connection  was  not  destined,  indeed,  to  be  of  long  duration ;  but  it 
gave  an  appearance  of  additional  force  to  the  ministry  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  session  of  1805,  which  was  opened  on  the  15th  of 
January  by  the  king  in  person.  It  is  to  this  reinforcement  that  the 
king  seems  to  allude  in  the  following  note  to  Lord  Eldon,  enclosing 

*  NOTE  ur  THE  PRESENT  EARL. — The  letters  from  King  George  III.,  from  the  com- 
mencement, until  April  1805,  show  but  little  variation  in  his  usual  clear  hand-writing: 
those  subsequently  written  in  his  own  hand  strongly  indicate  a  progressive  loss  of 
sight.  The  latest'which  have  been  found  among  Lord  Eldon's  papers  are  of  the 
years  1809  and  1810;  these  are  by  the  hand  of  a  secretary,  and  have  in  autograph 
the  signature  only*  written  with  extreme  irregularity. 

•j-  See  hereafter  a  letter  from  the  prince  to  the  chancellor,  dated  8th  May,  1810. 


260  LIFE  OF  LORD 

two  letters  which  probably  communicated  the  arrangement  for  the 
new  alliance.  «, 

"  Windsor  Castle,  Dec.  25lh,  1804. 

"  The  king,  with  many  compliments  on*  the  season,  sends  with  infinite  pleasure 
the  two  letters  he  has  received  this  morning  (from  Lord  Hawkesbury  and  Mr.  Pitt), 
to  his  lord  chancellor.  This  reconciliation  will  give  ease,  and  add  much  strength  to 
his  majesty's  administration,  at  which  no  man  will  more  sincerely  rejoice  than  the 
lord  chancellor. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

The  letter  which  follows  from  the  Duke  of  Kent,  the  father  of  her 
present  majesty,  is  also  an  assurance  of  support  to  the  government 
of  King  George  III.,  toward  whom  his  royal  highness  expresses 
his  dutiful  attachment,  in  the  unaffected  language  of  a  loyal  son  and 
soldier. 

(The  Duke  of  Kent  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"  Saturday  Morning,  Feb.  9th,  1805.    Kensington  Palace. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"Fearful  lest  your  lordship  should,  in  the  multiplicity  of  business,  in  which  your 
time  is  so  much  engaged,  forget  what  I  did  myself  the  pleasure  of  saying  to  you  (re- 
lative to  my  attendance  in  Parliament)  on  the  day  when  the  session  was  opened,  and 
from  that  cause,  that  I  may  at  any  time  be  absent,  when  my  presence  would  have 
been  wished  for  by  his  majesty's  government,  I  now  do  myself  the  pleasure  to  ad- 
dress you  these  lines,  in  order  to  repeat  my  readiness  to  attend  in  the  House  of  Peers, 
whenever  your  lordship  is  so  good  as  to  send  me  the  slightest  direct  intimation  that 
my  appearance  is  wished  for.  In  doing  this,  I  am  anxious  your  lordship  should  un- 
derstand, that  I  am  actuated  by  that  principle  I  have  ever  professed,  of  supporting 
the  king's  government,  and  never  taking  any  part  in  political  disputes,  for  which  I 
have  the  utmost  abhorrence,  and,  indeed,  am  less  fit  than  any  other  member  of  our 
House,  having  never  given  my  attention  to  any  other  pursuit  but  that  of  my  own 
profession.  The  king  is  my  object :  to  stand  by  him  at  all  times,  my  first  duty  and 
my  inclination ;  and  I  think  I  cannot  prove  this  more  strongly  than  by  pledging  my- 
self, as  I  did  when  first  I  received  my  peerage  spontaneously,  always  to  support  his 
servants,  where  my  feeble  voice  could  be  of  use.  I  have  ever  acted  up  to  this  pro- 
fession, and  I  ever  will ;  but  it  is  not  my  system  to  attend  Parliament  otherwise ; 
therefore  I  solicit  to  be  informed  by  your  lordship,  when  I  am  wanted,  that  I  may  not 
then  be  absent.  Having  said  this,  I  now  beg  leave  to  add,  that,  as  the  king  remains 
at  Windsor  till  Tuesday  the  19th  instant,  it  is  my  wish  to  be  a  couple  of  days  with 
him  in  that  time,  and  I  therefore  am  anxious  to  learn  from  your  lordship  if  I  shall  be 
wanted  in  the  course  of  the  next  week,  and  on  what  days,  so  as  not  to  be  from  here 
on  such  as  you  shall  name. 

"  With  a  thousand  apologies  for  this  intrusion,  and  sentiments  of  the  highest  re- 
gard and  esteem,  I  remain, 

"  My  dear  lord,  ever  yours 

"  Most  faithfully  and  sincerely, 

"  EDWARD." 

The  state  of  Ireland  continuing  to  be  full  of  danger,  it  was  deemed 
expedient  still  further  to  continue  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  in  that  country.  A  bill  for  this  purpose  having  passed  the 
Commons,  Lord  King,  on  its  arrival  in  the  House  of  Lords,  moved 
that  an  account  should  be  given  of  the  conditions  upon  which  persons 
confined  under  the  suspending  act  had  from  time  to  time  obtained 
their  discharge.  This  motion  was  withdrawn ;  but  Lord  Grenville, 
on  the  21st  of  February,  when  the  second  reading  was  moved,  re- 
newed the  proposal  with  this  qualification,  "  except  so  far  as  the  same 
may  relate  to  informations  respecting  any  traitorous  proceeding." 

*  Sic  in  orig. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  261 

Lord  Hawkesbury  objected  to  the  principle  of  such  a  motion ;  and, 
when  it  was  further  pressed  by  Lord  Grenville, 

Lord  Eldon  said,  that  it  would  be  better  to  let  the  suspension  bill  expire  than  to 
acquiesce  in  Lord  Grenville's  suggestion;  and  that  there  could  be  no  safety  in,  nor 
any  reasonable  expectation  of  benefit  from,  the  suspension,  if  such  a  condition  were 
to  be  attached  to  it. 

The  motion  was  negatived  without  a  division. 

Lord  King  moved  in  the  House  of  Lords,  on  the  8th  of  March,  for 
a  committee  to  consider  of  the  military  defence  of  the  country.  The 
scope  of  this  motion  was  to  censure  the  military  measures  of  the  late 
and  of  the  present  ministers.  Both  governments  were  defended  by 
the  chancellor;  and  the  motion  was  negatived. 

"The  chancellor's  constant  attention  to  the  business  of  his  pro- 
fession," observes  the  present  earl,  "left  him  but  little  time  for  other 
occupations,  especially  for  those  of  mere  amusement.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  whist,  (at  which,  though  perhaps  not  very  skilful,  he  was 
fond  of  playing  in  the  country  until  a  late  period  of  his  life,)  he  knew 
scarcely  any  thing  of  card  playing,  even  of  most  common  and  simple 
games.  This  led,  on  one  occasion,  to  a  rather  laughable  scene  at  the 
palace  of  King  George  III.  The  royal  party  were  playing  at  com- 
merce ;  and,  through  Lord  Eldon's  bad  luck  or  bad  play,  he  had  soon 
forfeited  his  three  lives.  In  perfect  ignorance,  however,  that  this 
catastrophe  should  have  been  the  signal  for  his  retiring  from  the 
contest,  Lord  Eldon  kept  his  seat  at  the  table  and  continued  play- 
ing. At  last  Queen  Charlotte,  perceiving  that  all  his  counters  were 
gone,  suddenly  addressed  him,  —  'My  lord  chancellor,  you  are  dead.' 
Expostulation  proving  vain,  and  Lord  Eldon,  to  his  own  diversion, 
and  that  of  the  company,  being  made  to  understand,  that,  though 
physically  alive  and  well,  he  was  metaphorically  defunct,  they  pro- 
ceeded in  their  game  without  his  being  further  allowed  to  join  in  it."* 

But  th'ough  Lord  Eldon's  scanty  leisure  did  not  allow  him,  nor  his 
tastes,  which  were  wholly  domestic,  incline  him,  to  partake  the  festi- 
vities or  indulgences  of  general  society,  yet,  among  the  dinner-clubs 
which  were  the  fashion  of  that  time,  there  was  one  in  which  Lord 
Eldon  enrolled  himself.  This  was  the  University  College  Club.  It 
had  been  founded  in  1792,  and  consisted  of  cotemporary  members 
of  that  college,  who  dined  together  on  the  first  Saturdays  of  February, 
March,  April  and  May,  in  each  year,  at  what  would  now  be  called 
the  early  hour  of  half-past  five.  The  place  of  meeting  was  the  Crown 
and  Anchor  Tavern  in  the  Strand.  In  May,  1804,  Sin, William  Scott 
being  the  president,  a  list  of  the  members  was  engraven  on  a  large 
sheet  of  paper,  on  which  appear  the  names  of  Sir  William  Scott,  Sir 
Robert  Chambers,  Sir  William  Jones,  Lord  Eldon,  Mr.  Windham, 
Sir  Thomas  Plumer,  Lord  Moira,  and  other  men  of  high  character 

*  There  is  a  precedent — not,  indeed,  of  legal,  but  of  poetical  authority — for  Lord 
Eldon's  perseverance  in  the  contest  after  the  loss  of  life : — 

"colui,  del  colpo  non  accorto, 

Andava  combattendo  —  ed  era  morto." 

Orlando  Innamoralo,  canto  liii.  ottava  Ix. 


262  LIFE  OF  LORD 

and  station.  At  the  bottom  are  the  words,  "  Engraved  by  order  of  the 
Club,  May  1804,  as  a  memorial  of  their  friendship :" — at  the  head  is  a 
medallion-bust  of  Alfred  the  Great,  the  founder  of  the  college,  having 
for  its  inscription,  the  words,  "Alfredus  fundator."  This  medallion 
is  flanked  by  two  short  columns  of  lettering,  being  a  Latin  panegyric 
on  that  prince,  from  the  pen  of  Sir  William  Scott,  in  the  following 

words : — 

Quisquis  es, 

Vel  Libertatis  amans,  vel  Literarum, 
Illius  Viri  Imaginem 
Piis  suspice  oculis, 

Qui  Patriam, 
Peregrinis  Hostibus  afflictam, 

Domestica  Morum  feritate 
Et  turpissima  simul  ignorantia 

Laborantem, 

Armis  erexit,  legibus  emollivit, 
Scientia  exornavit. 

Si  sis  Britannus, 

Possis  etiam  gloriari 

Militarem  Romuli  Virtutem, 

Civilem  NumEe  Sapientiara. 

Philosophicam  Antonini  Dignitatem, 

Unice  in  se  complecti 
Britannici  Alfredi  nomen. 

W.  8.* 

*  TKANSLATIOTST,  BY  THE  PRESENT  EARL  OF  ELDOST. 

Whosoever  yon  are, 

Whether  a  lover  of  liberty  or  of  literature, 
Look  up  with  reverential  eyes 

At  the  image  of  that  man, 

Who  raised  by  arms,  civilized  by  laws, 

And  adorned  by  science, 

His  country,  previously 

Distressed  by  foreign  foes, 

And  labouring  under  domestic  wildness  of  manners 
Together  with  the  most  degrading  ignorance. 

If  you  are  a  Briton, 

You  may  also  be  able  to  boast 

That  the  name  of  the  British  Alfred 

Singularly  comprises  within  itself 

The  military  valour  of  Romulus, 

The  civil  wisdom  of  Numa, 
And  the  philosophic  dignity  of  Antonine. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  263 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

1805—1806. 

Roman  Catholic  claims:  Lord  Eldon's  first  speech  against  them. — Vote  of  censure 
on  Lord  Melville. — Witnesses'  Indemnity  Bill. — Letters  of  Lord  Eldon  to  the  Rev. 
S.  Swire,  and  to  the  Hon.  Eliz.  Scott.  —  Decline  of  Mr.  Pitt's  health.  —  Decease  of 
Lord  Eldon's  eldest  son,  the  Hon.  John  Scott :  Letters  of  Lord  Eldon  and  Sir 
William  Scott  concerning  his  illness  and  death:  His  epitaph  and  character: — 
Letters  of  Mr.  Pitt,  Mr.  Wilberforce,  Lord  Ellenborough,  etc. — Death  of  Mr.  Pitt. 
— Formation  of  the  Whig  ministry. — The  king's  mitigated  feeling  as  to  Mr.  Fox. — 
Lord  Eldon's  farewell  address  to  the  chancery  bar:  His  parting  interview  with  the 
king:  Memorandum  in  his  judicial  note-book  respecting  his  acceptance  and  re- 
signation of  the  great  seal. 

IT  was  on  the  25th  of  March,  1805,  that  Lord  Grenville  called  the 
attention  of  the  country  to  the  claims  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  by  pre- 
senting a  petition  to  the  House  of  Lords  from  the  leading  men  of  their 
body  in  Ireland.  A  duplicate  of  it  was  presented  by  Mr.  Fox  to  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  same  day.  Of  this  important  document, 
which  may  be  considered  as  a  fair  statement  of  the  claimants'  case, 
the  substance  is  added  here,  on  account  of  the  prominent  part  taken 
by  Lord  Eldon,  from  that  time  to  the  end  of  his  life,  upon  the  great 
subjects  which  this  question  involved. 

The  petitioners,  after  declaring  their  attachment  to  the  person,  family  and  govern- 
ment of  the  sovereign,  their  gratitude  for  the  amelioration  of  their  condition  by  the 
laws  enacted  during  his  reign, and  their  "predilection"  for  "  the  admirable  principles 
of  the  British  constitution,"  appeal  to  their  conduct  in  taking  certain  oaths,  and  to 
the  sacrifices  made  by  them  in  refusing  others,  as  proofs  of  their  reverence  for  obli- 
gations so  sacred.  They  refer  particularly  to  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  abjuration 
taken  by  them ;  and  affirm  their  belief  that  no  evil  act  can  be  justified  by  the  pretence 
of  the  good  of  the  church,  or  by  the  command  of  any  ecclesiastical  power.  They 
deny  it  to  be  an  article  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  that  the  pope  is  infallible,  or  that 
sin  can  be  forgiven  at  the  will  of  the  pope,  or  of  any  other  priest  or  person;  and 
declare  that  they  believe  themselves  bound  to  defend,  to  the  utmost  of  their  power, 
the  settlement  and  arrangement  of  property  as  established  by  law.  They  state  that 
they  have  solemnly  abjured  any  intention  to  subvert  the  present  church  establishment 
for  the  purpose  of  introducing  a  Catholic  establishment  in  its  stead,  and  that  they 
have  also  solemnly  sworn  not  to  exercise  any  privilege  they  may  obtain  to  disturb  or 
weaken  the  Protestant  religion  or  government  in  Ireland.  And  they  observe  that  a 
period  of  twenty-six  years  had  elapsed  since  the  king  and  the  Irish  Parliament,  in 
enacting  certain  relaxations  of  the  disabilities  and  incapacities  of  the  Irish  Roman 
Catholics,  had  declared  their  "  uniform,  peaceable  behaviour  for  a  long  series  of 
years."  The  petition  went  on  to  enumerate  the  then  existing  disabilities  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  for  various  offices,  civil,  naval  and  military,  and  to  detail  the  prac- 
tical evils  thereby  endured  by  them;  adverting  particularly  to  the  hostile  spirit  pro- 
duced against  them  by  the  ignominy  of  exclusion,  and  to  the  distinction,  which, 
having  conceded  to  them  the  elective,  yet  still  continued  to  deny  to  them  the  repre- 
sentative franchise:  which  closed  the  avenues  of  lawful  ambition:  deprived  the 
Roman  Catholic  peerage  of  its  share  in  the  legislative  representation:  and,  by  refus- 
ing to  the  Roman  Catholic  bar  the  honours  of  the  law,  reduced  their  practice  to  a 


264  LIFE  OF  LORD 

pecuniary  traffic.  After  representing  the  detriment  occasioned  to  the  country  in  all 
branches  of  service,  civil  and  military,  from  the  denial  of  the  honours  and  rewards, 
which  are  the  most  powerful  incentives  to  merit,  the  petitioners  declared,  that  "  they 
do  not  seek  or  wish,  in  the  remotest  degree,  to  injure  or  encroach  upon  the  rights, 
privileges,  immunities,  possessions  and  revenues  appertaining  to  the  bishops  and 
clergy  of  the  Protestant  religion,  or  to  the  churches  committed  to  their  charge ;"  and 
they  urge  their  request  as  conducive  to  the  general  strength  and  happiness  of  the 
kingdom  and  to  the  extinction  of  religious  animosities.  They  pray,  therefore,  to  be 
relieved  from  the  operation  of  the  several  statutes  in  force  against  them,  and  to  be 
restored  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  British  constitution. 

On  Friday,  the  10th  of  May,  Lord  Grenville  moved  for  a  com- 
mittee of  the  whole  House,  in  order  to  take  this  petition  into  con- 
sideration. At  four  o'clock  of  the  next  morning  the  debate  was 
adjourned  to  Monday  the  13th,  on  which  day  the  lord  chancellor 
made  his  first  formal  declaration  of  resistance  to  the  objects  of  the 
petitioners. 

Those  objects,  he  conceived,  were  inconsistent  with  our  Protestant  constitution, 
which  he  felt  it  the  duty  of  the  House  to  transmit  to  their  posterity  as  pure  as  they 
had  received  it  from  their  ancestors.  It  had  been  urged  that  the  petition  was  pre- 
sented on  behalf  of  four  millions  of  his  majesty's  subjects;  but  the  considerations 
which  should  determine  the  House  were  the  objects  and  the  reasonableness  of  the 
petition  itself,  not  the  numbers  of  the  petitioners.  Whatever  was  required  by  the 
principle  of  religious  toleration  had  been  already  conceded  to  the  Roman  Catholics. 
There  was  some  check,  or  some  limitation  in  the  case  of  almost  every  class  of  the 
people.  The  candidate  for  office  or  for  parliamentary  representation  was  called  upon 
for  tests,  for  oaths  and  qualifications.  The  dissenter  was  admitted  only  on  his  con- 
formity with  the  tests  prescribed.  The  eldest  s»ns  of  the  Scots  peers  were  not  ad- 
missible into  the  representation  of  Scotland.  The  liberties  of  the  country  might  be 
said  to  be  sustained  by  a  system  of  checks;  and  exclusions  were  applied  against 
Protestants  no  less  than  against  the  present  petitioners.  Nay,  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  Ireland  had  a  greater  latitude  in  the  form  of  their  oath  of  allegiance  than  was  al- 
lowed to  the  Protestant  dissenters  of  England ;  for  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics  were 
required  only  to  swear  allegiance  to  the  king  and  his  family,  whereas  the  form  of  the 
English  oath  Was,  to  the  king  and  his  family,  being  Protestants.  The  British  consti- 
tution was  not  based  upon  the  principle  of  equal  rights  to  all  men  indiscriminately, 
but  of  equal  rights  to  all  men  conforming  to,  and  complying  with,  the  tests  which  that 
constitution  required  for  its  security.  In  order  to  give  due  effect  to  the  principle  of 
the  Act  of  Settlement  and  of  the  Bill  of  Rights,  the  councils  as  well  as  the  person  of  the 
sovereign  should  be  Protestant.  In  enlarging  upon  the  danger  of  surrounding  a 
Protestant  king  with  a  Catholic  cabinet,  he  quoted  a  saying  of  Lord  Somers,  that 
"  the  coronation  oath  was  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  existing  constitution  of  Britain." 
Nor  could  he  forget  the  contumacious  conduct  of  the  present  Roman  Catholic  clergy 
in  Ireland,  who  assumed,  in  violation  of  law,  not  only  the  high  titular  dignities  of  the 
church,  but  also  the  ecclesiastical  functions  of  a  hierarchy. 

The  debate  continued  till  six  o'clock  on  the  following  morning, 
when  the  motion  for  a  committee  was  negatived  by  a  division  of  178 
against  49.  A  motion  to  the  like  effect,  which  was  made  by  Mr.  Fox 
in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  13th  of  the  same  month  of  May,  and 
on  which  the  debate  was  adjourned  to  the  14th,  was  negatived  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Wednesday  the  15th,  by  a  division  of  336 
against  124. 

There  was  no  subsequent  debate,  during  this  session,  of  any  great 
permanent  interest,  in  which  the  lord  chancellor  took  a  conspicuous 
part.  From  May  to  July,  his  attention  in  the  House  of  Lords  was 
most  frequently  occupied  with  the  proceedings  against  Judge  Fox, 
and  the  claims  of  the  Duke  of  Atholl  in  respect  of  the  sovereignty  and 
revenues  of  the  Isle  of  Man. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  265 

Meanwhile,  however,  an  event  had  occurred  of  a  nature  extremely 
perplexing  to  the  cabinet,  namely,  a  vote  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
which  pronounced  Lord  Melville,  then  first  lord  of  the  admiralty,  to 
have  committed,  when  treasurer  of  the  navy,  "  a  gross  violation  of 
the  law  and  a  high  breach  of  duty,"  in  conniving  at  a  misplacement 
of  public  money  by  the  navy  paymaster.  This  vote  had  been  imme- 
diately followed  by  the  resignation  of  Lord  Melville,  who  was  suc- 
ceeded at  the  head  of  the  board  of  admiralty  by  Admiral  Sir  Charles 
Middleton,  thereupon  created  Lord  Barham. 

The  loss  of  Lord  Melville's  energy  and  talent  was  a  heavy  blow  to 
the  government,  and  especially  to  Mr.  Pitt,  who,  during  so  many 
years  of  his  official  life,  had  been  in  habits  of  the  utmost  reliance  on, 
and  confidence  in,  his  able  colleague.  Mr.  Pitt's  annoyance  was  not 
a  little  aggravated  by  the  adverse  line  which  Lord  Sidmouth  and  his 
adherents  took  upon  this  irritating  question.  On  the  9th  of  July,  the 
Commons  presented,  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords,  their  articles 
of  impeachment  against  Lord  Melville;  and,  on  the  10th,  Lord  Sid- 
mouth  and  Lord  Buckinghamshire  resigned  their  offices,  in  which  they 
wrere  succeeded,  the  former  by  Lord  Camden,  and  the  latter  by  Lord 
Harrowby.  Before  the  articles  were  exhibited,  a  bill  had  been  sent 
up  from  the  Commons,  for  securing  to  the  witnesses,  who  might  give 
evidence  on  the  impeachment,  an  indemnity  as  well  from  any  civil 
as  from  any  criminal  proceedings  to  which  they  might  expose  them- 
selves by  their  examinations.  The  lord  chancellor  urged,  and  effected, 
the  rejection  of  the  civil  part  of  the  indemnity,  on  the  ground  that  as 
a  witness  has  no  right  to  withhold  an  answer  on  the  score  of  its  ten- 
dency to  fix  him  with  a  civil  liability,  a  protection  against  this  liability 
removes  no  legal  obstacle  to  the  discovery  of  truth.* 

The  business  of  1805  was  wound  up  by  a  prorogation,  on  the  12th 
of  July,  the  royal  speech  being  delivered  by  the  lord  chancellor. 

The  letter  which  follows  will  show  how  little  the  world  and  its 
glories  had  been  able  to  alienate  the  heart  of  Lord  Eldon  from  early 
affections  and  simple  pleasures : — 

(Endorsed,  July  lOih,  1805.) 
"  Dear  Swire, 

"  I  have  just  this  moment  received  your  letter;  and  I  can  sincerely  assure  you  that 
no  event  of  my  life  has  given  me  greater  pleasure  than  that  of  being  at  last  able,  by 
doing  any  thing  which  could  be  in  any  degree  acceptable  to  you,  to  secure  to  myself 
the  real  comfort  which  I  shall  have,  if  I  survive  the  labours  in  which  I  live,  in  the 
reflection,  during  the  few  years  which  can  remain  to  a  person  destroyed  by  labour, 
that  I  had  been  anxious  to  testify  the  affectionate  regard  which,  for  the  many  years 
that  are  gone  by,  I  have  entertained,  and  I  have  had  so  much  reason  to  entertain  for 
you.  To  prevent  all  disappointment,  I  had  signed  the  fiat  for  your  presentation  when 
I  wrote  to  you,  and  I  shall  direct  the  presentation  itself  to  be  immediately  sealed.  I 
have  nothing  to  ask  in  return,  but  that  you  will  continue  to  think  of  me  with  the 
partiality  and  kindness  which  I  have  so  long  experienced,  and  to  allow  me  to  hope 
that  I  may  yet  spend  some  happy  day  under  your  roof,  secluded  for  awhile  from  a 
selfish,  ambitious,  interested,  luxurious  world,  that  hath  not  an  idea  of  the  comforts 
of  a  college  commons,  or  the  repast  of  a  parsonage  dinner,  when  the  landlord  and 
his  hostf  meet,  with  the  same  ideas  upon  all  things,  unaffected  by  the  changes  and 

•  45  Geo.  3.  c  1 26.     See  Chap.  XXIII. 

t  Host,  in  the  sense  of  guest.  See  observations  on  the  seal  of  the  Newcastle  Hoast- 
mcn,  in  the  first  chapter. 


266  LIFE  OF  LORD 

chances  of  life,  which  governed  them  both  in  the  same  staircase  in  college.  I  have 
gained  much  at  home  by  this  little  incident,  for  Lady  Eldon  loves  me  better  every  time 
'she  remarks  that  I  think  of  you.  With  regards  to  Mrs.  S., 

"  Believe  me,  with  her  affection  and  mine, 

"Yours,  truly  and  faithfully, 

"  ELDON." 

The  next  epistle  is  in  a  ludicrous  vein.  It  is  addressed  on  the  28th 
of  August  in  the  same  year,  1805,  to  his  eldest  daughter,  who  had 
written  for  some  mourning  with  very  minute  instructions  to  her  maid. 
The  following  is  an  extract:  — 

"Dear  Bess, 

"  We  have  just  received  (eight  o'clock  this  Wednesday  evening)  your  letter,  com- 
posed of  five  half  sheets,  quarter  sheets  and  half  quarter  sheets,  and  scraps.  Manning 
and  I  mean  to  look  into  your  bottom  drawer  for  your  wooden  box,  and  then,  with  your 
bunch  of  keys,  to  rummage  your  red  box  for  the  black  things,  and  then  we  shall  look 
into  your  white  and  green  box  and  collect  your  handkerchief,  gloves,  bugles,  &c.,  and 
I  hope  we  shall  either  find  the  rubbish  in  the  right  box  or  the  wrong  box.  We  shall 
put  every  thing  black  into  a  white  sheet  of  paper,  and  your  black  things  and  white  things 
shall  come  with  Miss  Fawcett's  white  and  black  things.  I  am  glad  you  think  it  will 
not  be  of  any  consequence  whether  we  are  or  not  in  the  wrong  box,  by  not  being  able 
to  find  the  white  and  green  box. 

*****  *** 

"  We  do  see  that  you  wish  to  have  your  black  things,  and  somehow  or  other  will 
contrive  to  have  you  blackened  either  out  of  the  red  box,  or  the  green  and  w/tite  box,  or 
the  right  box,  or  the  wrong  box. 

"  As  to  all  other  matters  ***#*« 

as  soon  as  I  know  whether  I  shall  be  in  the  right  box  or  the  wrong  box  I'll  write  to  you 
again. 

"Yours,  with  love  of  all,  ever  affectionately, 


The  following  communication  is  from  Mr.  Oliver  Farrer  :  — 
"  During  a  visit  of  Lord  and  Lady  Eldon,  in  1805  to  my  uncle  Mr. 
Farrer,  at  Eltham,  it  happened  that  the  Ocean,  a  ninety-eight  gun 
ship,  was  to  be  launched  at  Woolwich:  and  arrangements  were  made 
that  the  whole  party  from  my  uncle's  should  go  to  witness  the  sight. 
On  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  launch  was  to  take  place,  a 
letter  by  express  was  brought  to  Lord  Eldon  at  the  breakfast  table. 
When  he  had  read  it,  he  said  it  was  a  summons  to  a  cabinet  council. 
We  all  expressed  our  hopes  that  he  would  not  be  under  the  necessity 
of  going.  With  a  smile  he  replied,  'No,  I  will  not  go;  because, 
though  I  may  attend  other  cabinet  councils,  I  never  can  have  another 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  Ocean  launched.' 

"  The  carriage  being  filled  with  the  ladies,  and  my  uncle  and  James 
going  on  horseback,  (Lord  Eldon  was  no  equestrian,)  he  himself  pro- 
posed and  insisted,  though  it  was  a  very  dirty  day,  that  he  and  I  should 
walk  to  Woolwich,  about  four  miles.  We  accordingly  started  through 
mud  and  mire.  From  the  rapidity  of  Lord  Eldon's  walking,  we  were 
in  a  dirty  plight  when  we  arrived  at  the  gates  of  the  dockyard.  In 
vain  we  sued  for  admittance.  The  gatekeeper  was  inexorable  :  '  It 
was  not  for  such  like  to  be  admitted.'  In  the  midst  of  the  party,  a 
lord  of  the  admiralty,  or  some  high  official,  I  don't  exactly  remem- 
ber who,  came  up,  and  upon  seeing  Lord  Eldon,  called  out,  '  My 
lord  chancellor,  what  are  you  doing  here  ?'  Lord  Eldon  answered, 
'  Waiting  to  get  in;  but  not,  it  would  seem,  in  a  likely  way  to  sue- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  267 

ceed  without  your  aid.'  In  a  moment,  on  hearing  this  address,  the 
gate  was  thrown  open,  and  we  were  ushered  in,  dirt  and  all,  to  the 
grand  stand,  in  which  was  Queen  Caroline  (then  Princess  of  Wales). 
The  moment  Lord  Eldon  entered  the  door,  she  saw  him,  beckoned 
him  to  her  side,  and  kept  him  in  conversation  the  whole  time  of 
the  proceeding,  to  her  gain,  but  to  our  loss.  During  our  walk  Lord 
Eldon  was  (as  indeed  he  invariably  was)  most  kind  and  entertain- 
ing. I  well  remember  our  speaking  of  the  profession  for  which  he 
knew  I  was  intended.  He  said,  '  Oliver,  let  me  warn  you,  never  be 
ambitious  of  the  highest  honour  of  the  law.  Believe  me,  when  I  give 
you  my  word,  that  I  have  not  known  a  single  day  of  full  freedom  from 
anxiety  since  I  have  held  the  great  seals.  I  have  not  known  real 
happiness  since  I  exchanged  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas  for  that  of  lord  chancellor.  If  it  were  to  do  again,  with  my 
present  knowledge,  nothing  should  induce  me  to  give  up  a  situation 
of  ease  and  comfort  for  the  highest  honours,  accompanied,  as  they  are, 
by  incessant  anxiety.  As  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  I  was 
completely  happy.'  " 

The  anxieties  and  labours  of  office  had  now  sensibly  impaired  the 
health  of  Mr.  Pitt,  who  had  of  late  been  conducting  the  public  busi- 
ness in  the  House  of  Commons,  almost  without  assistance,  and 
against  an  active  and  keen  opposition.  The  Anecdote  Book  has  a 
short  but  remarkable  reminiscence  of  a  conversation  with  him  at  this 
closing  period  of  his  life. 

"  I  went  with  Mr.  Pitt,  not  long  before  his  death,  from  Roehampton 
to  Windsor.  Among  much  conversation  upon  various  subjects,  I 
observed  to  him  that  his  station  in  life  must  have  given  him  better 
opportunities  of  knowing  men  than  almost  any  other  person  could 
possess ;  and  I  asked  whether  his  intercourse  with  them,  upon  the 
whole,  led  him  to  think  that  the  greater  part  of  them  were  governed 
by  reasonably  honourable  principles,  or  by  corrupt  motives.  His 
answer  was,  that  he  had  a  favourable  opinion  of  mankind  upon  the 
whole,  and  that  he  believed  that  the  majority  was  really  actuated  by 
fair  meaning  and  intention." 

The  latter  part  of  this  year  produced  events  of  great  importance  to 
the  fortunes  of  the  war.  The  capitulation  of  Ulm,  by  which,  in  October, 
1805,  30,000  Austrians  became  the  prisoners  of  Napoleon,  had  given 
to  France  a  tremendous  superiority  in  the  struggle  upon  the  conti- 
nent ;  but  in  a  few  days  afterwards  her  power  and  pretensions  at  sea 
had  been  absolutely  annihilated  by  the  destruction  of  the  united  navy 
of  France  and  Spain  off  Cape  Trafalgar,  the  dearly-bought  triumph 
which  cost  the  life  of  Lord  Nelson.  In  December,  the  scale  again 
turned  in  favour  of  France,  whose  success  at  Austerlitz,  against  the 
combined  forces  of  Austria  and  Russia,  so  crippled  the  strength  of  the 
Austrians  and  depressed  the  spirit  of  their  emperor,  as  to  leave  the 
continental  states  of  Europe,  for  many  subsequent  years,  under  the 
almost  uncontrolled  dominion  of  Napoleon. 

Mr.  Pitt,  who  had  been  the  chief  artificer  of  the  coalition  between 
Austria  and  Russia,  had  been  forced,  by  increasing  illness,  to  Bath, 


<>68  LIFE  OF  LORD 

where  he  received  the  tidings  of  this  great  battle,  and  of  the  para- 
lyzing convention  which  followed  it;  and  the  intelligence  of  these 
astounding  events  gave  an  irreparable  blow  to  his  drooping  constitu- 
tion. His  declining  state  was  a  source  of  great  grief  and  anxiety  to 
Lord  Eldon,  as  well  from  personal  regard  as  in  reference  to  the 
general  condition  of  the  country's  affairs,  and  to  those  peculiar  pre- 
judices of  the  king  which  were  likely  to  embarrass  the  formation  of  a 
o-overnment  under  any  other  minister.  But  Lord  Eldon  was  now 
about  to  be  visited  with  an  affliction  still  nearer  and  deeper, — the 
loss  of  his  eldest  son.  On  the  10th  of  December,  the  family  circle 
had  received  a  joyful  addition  in  the  birth  of  the  present  earl : — on 
the  24th,  the  young  heir  became  an  orphan. 

The  following  particulars  of  the  death  of  his  father  are  from  the 
earl  himself: — 

"My  father's  last  illness  was  of  but  brief  duration.  On  the  9th  of 
December,  1805,  the  evening  preceding  the  day  of  my  birth,  he  had 
retired  to  bed  very  early  with  a  bad  cold,  being  liable  to  suffer  from 
asthma,  but  in  cheerful  spirits,  as  appears  from  his  having  then  amused 
himself  in  composing  a  poetical  quiz  on  an  exaggerated  account  of  a 
friend's  shooting  exploits.  Anxiety  for  my  mother's  well-doing  de- 
cidedly aggravated  his  illness,  though  there  was,  on  this  occasion,  no 
particular  reason  for  alarm.  Among  other  letters  written  by  him 
consequent  on  my  birth,  were  three  to  his  mother-in-law,  Lady  Rid- 
ley, on  the  10th,  llth  and  12th.  In  none  of  them  is  apprehension  of 
danger  intimated  respecting  the  health  of  any  of  the  parties.  The 
letter  of  the  12th,  being  the  last  he  ever  wrote,  concludes  with  these 
words : — 

'  We  are  much  easier  to-day,  and  I  have  nothing  to  think  of  that  is  not  comfortable 
upon  the  subject  of  my  two. 

'My  poor  mother,  who  was  here  on  Sunday,  is  confined  for  the  present  with  a  vio- 
lent cold,  and  I  am  effectually  in  the  same  situation  here  (but  that  I  do  not  regret,  I 
am  almost  glad  of  it,)  from  the  same  cause.  I  am  not  very  likely  to  quit  my  ground, 
you  may  depend  upon  it,  having  no  pleasure  to  pursue  out  of  this  house  while  Hen- 
rietta is  in  it. 

'Yours,  as  ever, 

«j.  s: 

"  On  Saturday,  the  21st,  the  illness  assumed  a  more  serious  aspect 
than  before,  and  my  father  suffered  acutely  from  violent  spasmodic 
affections,  until  his  decease  on  Tuesday  the  24th." 

The  succeeding  letters  show  how  heavily  this  visitation  was  felt  by 
Lord  Eldon  and  his  family. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.') 

"  Eight  o'clock,  Tuesday  morning.     (Dec.  24.) 

"John  has  had  an  extreme  bad  night,  and  is  this  morning  very  ill.  My  poor 
daughter-in-law  is  of  course  informed  as  favourably  as  possible,  her  own  situation 
requiring  it. — 4  o'clock. — The  report  of  the  physicians  is,  that  John  is  worse  to-day 
than  yesterday.  They  still  say  they  will  not  pronounce  there  is  danger.  His  pain 
great,  his  spirits  sinking.  May  God,  in  mercy,  give  him  some  relief,  for  the  continu- 
ance of  this  cannot  be  long  as  it  is.  With  all  affection, 

"  E." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  269 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.) 

(December  24th.) 
"My  ever  dear  Brother, 

"With  a  broken  heart  I  inform  you  that,  before  I  had  written  the  last  paragraph  of 
the  letter  I  sent  by  this  day's  post,  my  poor,  dear,  dear  John  was  no  more.  I  am  so  dis- 
tressed, and  all  around  me  is  such  a  scene  of  distraction  and  misery,  that  I  know  not 
what  to  do.  May  God  Almighty  preserve  you  and  yours  from  what  we  suffer!  His 
mother  is  living  in  my  arms  out  of  one  hysteric  into  another  ;  and  his  poor  widow  is 
in  a  state  which  can  neither  be  conceived  nor  described.  For  myself,  I  am  your 
ever  ever  affectionate,  but  ever  ever  unhappy  brother, 

"  ELDOX." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Lady  Ridley.) — (Extract.) 

"2oih  Dec. 

"What  I  write  I  cannot  read  again,  and  I  am  wholly  unfit  to  write;  but  to  you,  as 
connected  with  my  dear,  dear  departed  son,  and  with  those  who  will  ever  be  most 
dear  to  me,  I  owe  the  attempt  to  try,  with  what  fortitude  I  can,  to  relieve  as  far  as  may 
be,  your  mind  about  poor  dear,  dear  Henrietta.  That  she  suffers  much,  very  much, 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at;  but,  thank  God !  her  own  health  was  so  much  restored,  that 
I  hope  she  has  strength  to  meet  her  sufferings  ;  and,  having  been  twice  with  her  alone, 
last  night  and  this  morning,  I  find  her  mind  stored  with  principles  of  resignation,  vir- 
tue and  religion,  which  lead  me  to  hope  that  affection  and  attention  will  bear  her 
through  this  almost  unexampled  calamity.  I  am  to  sit  with  her  again  this  evening. 

*»***»* 
"  I  bless  God  I  have  got  thus  far  in  this  letter.    Nature,  and  a  deeply  afflicted, 
very  deeply  afflicted  father's  feelings,  so  unman  me,  that  I  must  stop  here  till  to- 
morrow. 
"  Affection  to  Sir  Matthew  and  the  family  from  all  here. 

"Your  most  heart-broken 

"ELnox." 

A  few  days  later,  Sir  William  Scott  writes  to  his  daughter, — 

"Dear  Mary  Anne, 

"I  grow  more  uncertain  when  I  shall  get  down,  for  things  grow  worse  in  Bedford 
Square  instead  of  better.  Her  (Lady  Eldon's)  grief  is  still  as  wild  and  passionate  as 
ever,  without  the  least  abatement.  She  takes  hardly  any  sustenance  and  is  falling 
away  in  such  a  degree,  that  I  should  not  be  surprised  at  any  consequences  that  were 
to  follow  from  the  decay  of  her  strength.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  degree  in 
which  my  brother  is  worn  down  by  the  constant  attentions  he  is  obliged  to  pay  to  her. 
She  will  hardly  suffer  him  to  be  out  of  the  room,  and,  during  the  whole  time  he  is 
there,  he  is  a  witness  to  the  indulgence  of  such  sorrow  as  it  is  quite  impossible  for 
any  man  to  stand.  He  is  much  affected  in  his  health.  She  won't  hear  as  yet  of  going 
out  of  town,  which  is  the  only  thing  that  can  save  her.  My  brother  wishes  to  take 
her,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  Mr.  Smith's  house,  near  Harrow,  but  as  she  has  not  yet 
consented  to  move  out  of  the  room  into  any  other  room  in  the  house,  I  can't  guess  when 
she  will  consent  to  remove  into  the  country.  The  poor  widow  behaves  with  most  ex- 
emplary resignation ;  I  think  her  conduct  is  as  proper  as  can  possibly  be :  her  father 
and  mother  are  not  arrived,  nor  am  I  certain  when  they  come.  I  still  remain  in  the 
desire  of  coming  down  on  Thursday,  if  I  can  do  so  consistently  with  my  duty.  As  to 
turning  my  back  upon  my  brother  the  very  morning  the  funeral  is  over  (in  his  present 
condition !)  I  am  incapable  of  it." 

"  On  Tuesday,  December  31st,"  writes  the  present  earl,  "  the 
funeral  took  place  at  Cheshunt,  according  to  my  father's  desire ;  on 
the  day  of  his  marriage  he  had  gone  to  Woodgreen,  near  that  place, 
and  had  resided  there  for  several  months :  it  appears  that,  during  this 
period,  when  attending  the  church  at  Cheshunt,  he  had  indicated  a 
spot  in  the  churchyard  where  he  wished  to  be  buried,  wherever  he 
should  die,  to  a  friend  and  relative,  Mr.  William  Villiers  Surtees,  and 
that,  on  his  death-bed,  he  reminded  him  of  this,  his  desire.  Lord 
Eldon  was  chief  mourner." 


270  LIFE  °F  LORD 

(Lord  El  Jon  to  Sir  William  Scoff.') 

(Not,  dated,  but  written  soon  after  the  funeral.) 
"Dear  Sir  William. 

"Struggling  between  grief  and  gratitude,  I  cannot  tell  how  to  thank  you.  I  beseech 
you,  think  of  nothing  but  your  health.  Wherever  I  look  round  me  I  look  in  vain  for 
comfort.  But  constant  assurances  of  your  health  will  comfort  me  under  any  circum- 
stances in  which  I  shall  be  placed.  My  poor  wife  is  just  as  when  you  last  saw  her. 
I  will  endeavour  to  execute  all  the  duties  I  have  upon  me  as  well  as  I  can,  and  I  trust 
a  just  and  merciful  God  will  aid  and  direct  me  and  those  whose  state  must  in  a  degree 
influence  me.  Affection  of  all  to  all. 

"Yours,  while  on  earth, 

"  EJLDOX. 

"They  found  this  morning  a  paper  dated  February,  1805,  in  these  words,'!  par- 
ticularly much  wish  to  be  deposited  in  Cheshunt  churchyard,  Herts,  and  a  blue  box 
with  me.  J.  S.' 

"Thank  God,  brother,  this  was  all  done ;  but  oh !  mark  the  date. 

"  Yours  everlastingly,  here  and  hereafter, 

"  ELD  ON." 

The  epitaph  of  Mr.  Scott  was  composed  by  his  uncle,  Sir  William. 
It  is  as  follows : — 

"To  the  memory  of  the  Honourable  John  Scott, 

(Eldest  son  of  John,  Baron  Eldon,) 

Who,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one  years,  was  removed  by  death 
From  the  hopes  and  affections  of  his  family  and  friends, 

To  all  of  whom  he  was  eminently  endeared, 
By  the  purity  of  his  moral  and  religious  principles, 

By  the  integrity  of  his  public  conduct, 
By  the  graces  of  a  highly  cultivated  understanding, 

And 

By  a  peculiar  sweetness   of  disposition   and  manners, 

This  last  painful  testimony  of  regard  is  dedicated 

By  his  disconsolate  Father 

And 

By  his  afflicted  Widow, 

(Henrietta  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley,  Baronet,) 
With  whom  he  had  been  happily  united  for  the  space  of  little  more  than  one  year, 

And 

By  whom  he  has  left  an  only  son, 

Born  about  three  weeks  before  his  own  decease, 

Which  took  place  on  the  24th  of  December,  1805." 

The  abilities  of  Mr.  Scott,  naturally  good,  had  been  well  cultivated, 
and  were  guided  by  a  sound  judgment,  a  correct  taste  and  a  regard 
for  the  feelings  of  others.  He  was  sensitive,  and  among  strangers,  a 
little  shy  ;  and  these  tendencies,  concurring  with,  and  perhaps  partly 
arising  from  a  somewhat  delicate  constitution,  unfitted  him  for  the 
struggles  of  busy  life.*  At  one  time  he  was  desirous  of  some  perma- 
nent occupation ;  but  to  this  wish  his  father's  answer,  kindly  and 
considerately  given,  was  only,  "John,  there  must  be  some  idle  men 
in  the  world."  To  his  father,  mother  and  wife,  he  was  devotedly 
affectionate ;  and  in  the  little  circle  of  his  friends  he  had  an  open  and 
cordial  demeanour,  with  an  easy  gentle  address.  His  religious  prin- 
ciples being  sound,  deep  and  practical,  begot  in  him  a  strict  and 
pure  morality,  and  a  cheerfulness  often  playful.  He  was  prepossess- 
ing in  his  appearance,  the  want  of  personal  height  being  more  than 

*  He  served,  however,  in  two  Parliaments,  succeeding  his  father  as  member  for 
Boroughbridge,  which  he  represented  until  his  death. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  271 

compensated  by  a  well-proportioned  form,  an  intelligent  eye,  and  a 
benevolent  expression  of  countenance. 

The  illness  under  which  Mr.  Pitt  was  sinking,  did  not  prevent  the 
expression  of  his  sympathy : — 

(Mr.  Pitt  to  Sir  William  Scott.") 

"  Bath,  Dec.  27th,  1803. 
"  My  clear  Sir, 

"  It  is  with  great  regret  I  break  in  upon  you  in  the  moment  of  a  calamity  in  which 
you  so  nearly  participate ;  but  I  feel  too  deeply  for  the  loss  which  the  chancellor  and 
all  his  family  have  sustained,  not  to  be  anxious  to  inquire  how  he  and  they  support 
themselves  under  this  heavy  affliction.  I  know  how  vain  every  topic,  of  consolation 
must  be  in  the  first  impression  of  so  much  just  sorrow,  but  I  trust  he  will  gradually 
find  the  relief  which  even  the  sympathy  and  affection  of  his  friends  cannot  adminis- 
ter, in  the  resignation  and  fortitude  of  his  own  mind.  You  will,  I  am  sure,  pardon 
my  giving  you  this  trouble,  and  will  oblige  me  much  by  any  account  you  can  give 
me.  I  much  wish  he  may  be  induced  to  try  for  a  time  the  benefit  of  change  of 
scene,  and  of  a  place  of  quiet. 

"Believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 

"  With  great  truth  and  regard, 

"  Most  faithfully  and  sincerely  yonrs, 

"  W.  PITT." 

(Mr.  Wilberforce  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"  Rothley  Temple,  near  Leicester,  Dec.  30th,  1805. 

"  I  hope  I  am  not  taking  an  improper  liberty  in  breaking  in  upon  your  lordship  for 
one  moment,  for  the  purpose  of  assuring  you  how  sincerely  I  sympathize  with  your 
lordship  on  the  melancholy  and  unexpected  event  (if  in  such  an  uncertain  world 
any  thing  can  be  unexpected)  of  which  I  have  very  recently  heard.  Being  myself  a 
father,  and  knowing  the  warmth  of  your  lordship's  domestic  feelings,  I  am  aware 
how  deeply  you  must  suffer.  May  that  Almighty  Being,  who  has  inflicted  the  stroke, 
support  your  lordship  under  it ! 

"  Excuse  this  testimony  of  regard  from  one  who  will  ever  take  an  interest  in  what 
concerns  you;  and  believe  me  to  be,  with  real  respect  and  attachment, 

"Your  lordship's  obliged  and  faithful  servant, 

"  W.  WILBERFORCE. 
"  P.  S.     Of  course  I  expect  no  answer." 

(Sir  Herbert  Taylor  to  Sir  William  Scott.} 

"  Windsor  Castle,  Dec.  31st,  1805. 
"  Sir, 

"  I  have  had  the  honour  of  submitting  to  the  king  your  letter  of  yesterday,  convey- 
ing, by  desire  of  the  chancellor,  for  his  majesty's  information,  the  melancholy  intel- 
ligence of  the  severe  affliction  with  which  he  has  been  visited  in  the  death  of  his 
eldest  son ;  and  I  have  been  honoured  with  his  majesty's  commands,  to  request  you 
will  have  the  goodness  to  assure  the  chancellor  that  it  was  not  without  feelings  of 
very  deep  concern  and  regret  that  the  king  learnt  this  distressing  event,  and  that  he 
sincerely  participates  in  the  chancellor's  feelings  upon  the  melancholy  occasion. 

"His  majesty  commands  me  to  add,  that  he  had,  when  first  apprised  of  it,  intended 
writing  himself  to  the  chancellor,  and  that  he  had  solely  been  withheld,  from  the  im- 
pression that  it  would  be  more  kind  towards  him  not  to  disturb  him  in  the  first 
moments  of  his  just  grief;  that  he  would  have  been  very  sorry  if  the  chancellor  had 
distressed  his  feelings  under  the  immediate  pressure  of  so  severe  a  calamity,  by 
personally  making  this  communication;  and  that  his  majesty  is  truly  sensible  of  his 
attention  in  requesting  you  to  convey  it  to  him. 

"I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

"  With  great  regard, 

"Sir, 
"  Your  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

«  H.  TAYLOR. 
"  The  Right  Hon.  Sir  William  Scott,  &c.  &c." 


272  LIFE  OF  LORD 

(Lord  Elknborough  to  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon.) 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  have  not  allowed  myself  to  intrude  upon  the  earlier  and  most  sacred  moments 
of  your  affliction  by  a  single  line  of  vain  condolence.  It  would  have  been,  in  my 
judgment,  to  have  trifled  with  grief  such  as  yours,  and"  to  underrate  the  severity  of 
such  a  loss  as  you  have  sustained,  to  conceive  them  capable  of  mitigation  by  the 
language  and  topics  usually  applied  to  soothe  lesser  sorrows.  I  offer  you  none  of 
them;  they  do  not  apply  to  a  case  like  yours.  I  have  waited  with  anxiety  for  that 
moment  when  the  irresistible  demands  of  public  and  private  duty  might  force  you 
back  upon  the  business  of  the  world,  and  withdraw  your  mind  from  an  incessant 
contemplation  of  one  most  melancholy  and  painful  subject,  and  which  no  mind,  be 
its  general  firmness  what  it  may,  can  so  dwell  upon  with  impunity.  I  hope,  my  dear 
lord,  I  am  not  deceived  in  thinking  that  I  see,  through  all  the  sadness  of  your  most 
affecting  letter,  a  fixed  determination  to  address  yourself  to  the  discharge  of  the  many 
and  important  duties  which  surround  you,  with  all  the  composure  and  firmness  which 
a  satisfactory  discharge  of  those  duties  requires.  Your  strength  of  mind  will  grow 
with  the  use  of  it:  and  you  will  soon,  from  amended  spirits  and  increased  firmness, 
be  able  to  lend  comfort  and  support  to  those  deeply  suffering  relatives,  partners  in 
the  same  common  calamity,  to  whom  you  would  most  anxiously  be  disposed  to  afford 
it.  God  bless  you,  my  dear  friend,  and  may  His  merciful  providence  speedily  enable 
you  to  sustain,  unbroken,  the  heavy  load  of  affliction  which,  for  wise  but  inscrutable 
purposes,  it  has  cast  upon  you,  and  make  (if  it  be  possible)  this  apparent  evil  the 
means  of  greater  good  to  you,  both  here  and  hereafter,  is  the  sincere  prayer  of  your 
truly  sympathizing  and  sincerely  affectionate  friend, 

"  ELLEKBOHOUGH. 

"Bloomsbury  Square,  Jan.  16, 180G." 

The  session  of  Parliament  opened  on  the  21st  of  January;  and  on 
the  23d,  Mr.  Pitt,  who  had  returned  a  few  days  before  from  Bath  to 
his  own  house  at  Putney,  breathed  his  last. 

The  loss  of  such  a  man,  in  such  a  state  of  public  affairs,  appeared 
irreparable.  Except  his  father,  no  minister  of  that  already  long  reign 
had  occupied  so  large  a  space  in  the  sight  of  the  nation.  He  had 
come,  in  very  early  life,  to  the  aid  of  the  sovereign,  at  a  crisis  when 
no  other  champion  could  be  found  to  make  head  against  a  coalition, 
as  powerful  in  Parliament  as  it  was  odious  both  to  king  and  people ; 
and  the  lofty  vigour  of  that  rescue  fixed  him  in  the  confidence  of  the 
country,  as  well  as  of  the  court.  With  the  same  energy  and  eleva- 
tion of  spirit,  he  bore  the  state  through  the  trying  emergencies  of  the 
regency  and  of  the  revolutionary  propagandism ;  and  the  lucid  majesty 
and  volume  of  his  eloquence, — a  far  more  potential  influence  in  his 
day  than  in  ours, — threw  round  him  a  glory  which,  as  all  the  efforts 
of  his  great  cotemporaries  could  not  eclipse  it,  so  the  long  lapse  of 
succeeding  years  has  been  unable  to  quench  or  to  cloud. 

On  the  24th  of  January,  a  motion  was  to  have  been  made  in  the 
Upper  House  by  Lord  Hawkesbury,  who  conducted  the  business  of 
government  there,  for  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Lord  Collingwood  and  the 
naval  force  which,  under  his  command,  had  secured  the  fruits  of  Lord 
Nelson's  victory  at  Trafalgar ;  but,  on  the  day  appointed,  a  postpone- 
ment of  the  motion  was  requested  by  Lord  Walsingham  on  behalf  of 
Lord  Hawkesbury.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  a  zealous  opponent  of 
Mr.  Pitt's  government,  said  he  saw  no  possible  reason  for  the  delay, 
and  wished  that  some  ground  should  be  assigned  for  it.  The  lord 
chancellor  answered  him  in  a  few  words,  conveying  an  assurance 
that  Lord  Hawkesbury  would  be  able  to  assign  adequate  reasons. 
The  motion  was  then  postponed. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  273 

Lord  Hawkesbury  had  been  himself  invited  by  the  king  to  suc- 
ceed Mr.  Pitt,  but,  after  due  consideration  of  the  difficulties  sur- 
rounding him,  had  declined  to  undertake  so  grave  a  responsibility. 
Thus  the  king,  compelled  by  the  state  of  parties  to  entrust  Lord 
Grenville  with  the  formation  of  a  ministry,  had  now  no  alternative 
but  to  accept  Mr.  Fox  as  one  of  its  leading  members ;  and  his  ma- 
jesty is  understood  to  have  submitted  to  the  unwelcome  necessity 
with  the  best  possible  grace.  Lord  Grenville  became  first  lord  of 
the  treasury,  and  Mr.  Fox  secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs ;  Lord 
Erskine,  lord  chancellor;  Lord  Fitz-William,  president  of  the  coun- 
cil ;  Lord  Sidmouth,  lord  privy  seal ;  Lord  Moira,  master-general  of 
the  ordnance ;  Mr.  Grey,  first  lord  of  the  admiralty ;  Lord  Spencer, 
home  secretary ;  Mr.  Windham,  secretary  for  war  and  colonies ;  and 
Lord  Henry  Petty,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer;  \vhile  Lord  Ellen- 
borough  took  a  seat  in  the  cabinet,  though  continuing  to  fill  the  office 
of  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench.  Such  was  the  composi- 
tion of  the  showy  cabinet,  designated  boastfully  among  its  friends, 
and  derisively  among  its  foes,  by  the  appellation  of  All  the  Talents. 

Each  change  of  administration  since  1801,  had  been  unpleasing  to 
the  king,  but  upon  further  acquaintance,  his  prejudice  against  Mr. 
Fox  became  much  abated.  Some  time  after  the  dissolution  of  the 
Whig  ministry,  the  king  said  it  was  but  just  to  acknowledge,  that 
Mr.  Fox,  though  certainly  forced  upon  him,  had  never  presumed 
upon  that  circumstance  to  treat  his  sovereign  like  a  person  in  his 
power,  but  had  always  conducted  himself  frankly  and  yet  respect- 
fully, as  it  became  a  subject  to  behave.  "  His  manner,"  the  king 
was  wont  to  say,  "  contrasted  remarkably  with  that  of  another  of  the 
Whig  ministers,  wrho,  when  he  came  into  office,  walked  up  to  me  in 
the  way  I  should  have  expected  from  Buonaparte  after  the  battle  of 
Austerlitz." 

Lord  Eldon,  on  the  3d  of  February,  announced  that  he  should 
take  leave  of  the  Court  of  Chancery  on  the  following  day ;  and  on  the 
4th,  in  rising  to  quit  the  chair  which  he  had  occupied  with  so  great 
a  reputation,  he  made  the  following  address  to  the  bar: — 

"Before  I  take  leave  of  this  court,  I  wish  to  address  a  few  words  to  yon,  gentle- 
men, expressive  of  the  feelings  I  entertain  for  the  respectful  attention  I  have,  on  all 
occasions,  experienced  from  you.  I  had  doubted  whether  the  more  dignified  manner 
of  parting  would  not  be  simply  to  make  my  bow  to  you  and  retire;  but  observing 
that  I  have  been  represented,  yesterday  and  the  day  before,  to  have  addressed  you  on 
the  subject,  I  shall  not  resist  the  impulse  I  feel  to  say  a  few  words.  I  quit  the  office 
I  hold  without  one  painful  reflection.  Called  to  it  by  authority  of  those  whom  it  was 
my  duty  to  obey,  I  have  executed  it,  not  well,  but  to  the  extent  of  my  humble  abilities, 
and  the  time  which  I  have  been  able  to  devote  to  it;  and  I  enjoy  the  grateful  feeling 
that  there  is  no  suitor  of  this  court  who  can  say  I  have  not  executed  it  conscientiously. 
There  is  yet,  however,  one  painful  emotion  by  which  I  am  assailed — it  is  the  taking 
leave  of  you.  In  retiring  into  private  life,  I  am  upheld  by  the  hope  that  I  shall  carry 
with  me  the  continued  esteem  of  a  profession  for  which  I  feel  an  attachment  that 
will  descend  with  me  to  the  grave.  For  the  great  attention,  respect  and  kindness  I 
have  always  received  from  you,  accept,  gentlemen,  my  sincerest  thanks,  accompanied 
by  my  best  wishes  for  your  long-continued  health  and  happiness,  and  uninterrupted 
prosperity." 

VOL.  I. — 18 


274  LIFE  °F  LORD 

Mr.  Pigot,  the  new  attorney-general,  made  a  short  but  feeling 
answer  in  the  name  of  the  bar. 

On  this  occasion  Lord  Eldon  writes  to  his  daughter  as  follows : — 

"  Dear  Bessy, 

"I  took  my  leave  of  the  Court  of  Chancery  this  morning:  I  don't  mean  to  go  to 
the  woolsack  in  the  House  of  Lords  to-morrow,  or  any  more.  I  am  to  resign  the 

seal  at  two  o'clock  on  Friday." "I  cannot  describe  my  own  situation 

in  point  of  health  and  feeling  otherwise  than  as  excellent  as  that  which  a  man  has 
a  right  to  possess  who,  having  done  his  duty  to  God,  his  king  and  to  every  individual 
upon  earth,  according  to  the  best  of  his  judgment,  has  a  right  to  support  himself 
under  heavy  afflictions  by  the  consciousness  of  proud  and  dignified  integrity." 

It  remained  that  he  should  wait  upon  the  sovereign  for  the  pur- 
pose of  delivering  up  the  great  seal.  His  account  of  that  audience, 
which  took  place  on  Friday,  the  7th  of  February,  is  thus  preserved 
by  Mrs.  Forster : — 

"  The  king  appeared  for  a  few  minutes  to  occupy  himself  with 
other  things ;  looking  up  suddenly,  he  exclaimed,  '  Lay  them  down 
on  the  sofa,  for  I  cannot ,  and  I  will  not  take  them  from  you.'  In  the 
Anecdote  Book,  Lord  Eldon  records  the  same  circumstance,  with 
this  further  observation  of  the  king :  '  Yet  I  admit  you  can't  stay 
when  all  the  rest  have  run  away.'  When,  in  1807,  I  returned  into 
office,  he  gave  me  the  seal  again  in  the  same  kind  manner ;  and  he 
again  observed,  '  I  could  not  expect  you  to  stay  when  the  others  ran 
away." 

On  the  resignation  of  the  great  seal,  Lord  Eldon  became  entitled 
to  a  pension  of  4000/.  a-year,  granted  to  him  by  royal  letters  patent 
of  24th  of  April,  1801,  in  pursuance  of  the  powers  given  to  his  ma- 
jesty by  the  act  of  39  Geo.  3.  c.  110.  This  pension,  by  the  form  of 
its  limitation,  ceased  on  his  resumption  of  the  seals,  and  revived  on 
his  second  retirement.  He  enjoyed  it,  therefore,  from  the  7th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1806,  to  the  31st  of  March,  1807 ;  and  from  the  30th  of  April, 
1827,  till  his  death.  On  the  accession  of  the  reform  ministry,  who 
abolished  some  of  the  patronage  of  the  great  seal,  the  retiring  pension 
for  chancellors  was  raised  from  4000/.  a-year  to  5000J.,  but  as  the 
provision  was  not  retrospective,  Lord  Eldon  did  not  benefit  by  it. 

There  have  been  found  eleven  MS.  books  in  Lord  Eldon's  hand- 
writing, which  contain  notes  made  by  him  on  the  bench.  Several  of 
them  have  in  the  first  leaf,  the  words,  "  Thou  shalt  do  no  unright- 
eousness in  judgment:"*  as  if  he  were  desirous  to  keep  himself  per- 
petually in  mind  of  his  first  duty.  The  book  dated  "  December,  1805 
— December,  1807"  has,  on  its  last  leaf,  the  following  memorandum, 
concluding  .with  some  lines  from  a  chorus  in  one  of  the  tragedies 
ascribed  to  Senecaf: — 

"  On  Friday,  7th  February,  1806,  I  resigned  the  great  seal  to  his 
majesty  at  the  queen's  house.  When  I  took  the  office  of  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  Common  Pleas,  his  majesty  required  from  me  a  promise 
that  I  would  not  refuse  the  great  seal  when  he  should  call  upon  me 
to  take  it.  When  his  majesty  took  the  seal  from  my  hands,  his  ma- 

*  "Ye  shall  do  no  unrighteousness  in  judgment."— Leviticus,  xix.  15.  35. 
f  Thyestes,  line  391.  Act  II. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  275 

jesty's  demeanour  and  assurances  were  in  all  respects  satisfactory  to 
me." 

"Stet,  quicunque  volet,  potens 
Aulse  culmine  lubrico: 
Me  dulcis  saturet  quies. 
Obscuro  positus  loco, 
Leni  perfruar  otio. 
Nullis  nota  Quiritibus 
.^Etas  per  taciturn  fluat : 
Sic,  cum  transierint  mei 
Nullo  cum  strepitu  dies, 
Plebeius  moriar  senex. 
Illi  mors  gravis  incubat 
Qui,  notus  nimis  omnibus, 
Ignotus  moritur  sibi."* 

*  NOTE  BY  THE  PRESENT  EARL — To  do  justice  in  the  English  language  to  this  pass- 
age is  hardly  possible :  the  following  translation,  however,  is  almost  literal : — 
Let  him,  who  shall  desire  it,  stand  in  power 
On  the  slippery  height  of  the  mansion : 
Me  let  sweet  quiet  satisfy. 
Placed  in  an  obscure  situation 
May  I  fully  enjoy  mild  leisure. 
Noted  by  none  of  the  Romans 
Through  silence  may  my  age  flow  on: 
Thus,  when  my  days  shall  have  passed 
Without  noise, 

May  I  die  a  plebeian  old  man. 
On  him  death  presses  heavily 
Who,  too  well  known  to  the  world, 
Dies  to  himself  unknown. 


276  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

1806,  1807. 

Cabinet  seat  of  Lord  Ellenborough,  chief  justice. — Witnesses'  Indemnity  Bill. — Letter 
of  Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire. — Insolvent  Debtors'  Bill. — Acquittal  of  Lord  Melville, 
— Death  of  Mr.  Moises:  his  epitaph  by  Sir  William  Scott. — Death  and  anecdotes  o; 
Lord  Thurlow. — Dissolution  of  Parliament. — Letters  from  Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Scott:  from  the  Duke  of  Portland  to  Lord  Eldon. — Debate  on  negotiations  for 
peace  with  France. — Correspondence  of  Lord  Eldon  with  Lord  Melville  on  thy 
prospects  and  principles  of  parties. — Slave  trade. — Investigation  into  conduct  01 
the  Princess  of  Wales:  her  letters  to  Lord  Eldon  and  re-acceptance  at  court. 

IN  the  construction  of  the  new  ministry,  there  was  one  arrangement 
which  gave  umbrage  to  many  constitutional  lawyers,  boih  in  and  out 
of  Parliament.  This  was  the  allotment  of  a  seat  in  the  cabinet  to 
Lord  Ellenborough,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench.  It 
had  been  stipulated  by  Lord  Sidmouth,  on  acceding  to  the  cabinet,  that 
some  one  of  his  own  friends  should  be  placed  with  him  there:  and  of 
those  friends  Lord  Ellenborough  was  deemed,  from  his  ability  and  per- 
sonal character,  to  be  the  fittest  auxiliary.  But,  with  the  exception  of 
Lord  Mansfield,  no  chief  justice  had,  since  the  Revolution,  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  cabinet ;  and  the  exception  in  Lord  Mansfield's  case  had  not 
been  sufficiently  approved  to  constitute  a  legitimate  precedent.  The 
subject  was  brought  by  the  Earl  of  Bristol  under  the  consideration  of 
the  House  of  Lords  on  the  3d  of  March,  when  Lord  Eldon,  in  a  speech 
tempered  with  the  most  courteous  and  respectful  consideration  for  the 
learned  lord  who  was  the  subject  of  the  motion,  assigned  the  reasons 
which  rendered  it  in  his  opinion  unadvisable  that  the  lord  chief  jus- 
tice should  ever  be  a  member  of  the  cabinet. 

That  such  an  arrangement  was  not  illegal,  he  admitted :  and  he  would  not  say  that 
it  was  unconstitutional :  but  he  thought  it  inexpedient,  because  it  tended  to  excite  a 
suspicion  of  political  partiality  in  the  administration  of  justice.  It  was  observable 
that  Lord  Mansfield,  whose  case  formed  the  solitary  precedent,  had  become  extremely 
unpopular  after  his  entrance  into  the  councils  of  the  government;  and  the  jealousy 
which  then  arose  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  however  ill-founded,  had  been  sufficient 
to  weaken  the  confidence  which  ought  ever  to  be  reposed  in  a  judge.  Lord  Eldon. 
declared  himself  persuaded  that  the  tenure  of  a  seat  in  the  cabinet  would  not  in  the 
slightest  degree  affect  the  purity  of  Lord  Ellenborough's  judicial  administration ;  but 
he  thought,  that  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  country  at  large,  it  was  undesirable  to  have 
the  lord  chief  justice  in  such  a  position:  and  he  trusted  that,  on  reflection,  the  learned 
lord  himself  would  not  wish  to  retain  it.  It  would  not  be  proper  that  the  same  indi- 
vidual should  act,  first  as  minister  to  institute  prosecutions  for  treason  and  sedition, 
and  afterwards  as  the  judge  to  preside  at  the  trials.  A  lord  chief  justice,  it  was  true, 
might,  in  such  cases,  absent  himself  from  the  council,  or  delegate  the  trial  at  law  to 
some  other  judge;  but  in  either  of  these  cases  he  abandoned  some  duty  appertaining  to 
one  of  his  two  appointments.  There  might  occur  prosecutions,  not  for  offences  affect- 
ing the  general  foundations  of  government,  but  for  mere  libels  on  the  party  in  office; 
and  the  person  accused,  in  any  such  case,  would  never  be  satisfied  of  the  fairness  of 


liability, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  277 

his  trial,  if  the  presiding  judge  were  a  member  of  the  cabinet  directing  the  prosecu- 
tion. Lord  Eldon  added,  that  he  had  himself  been  connected  with  LordEllenborough, 
for  nearly  thirty  years,  by  the  sincerest  friendship:  and  even  if  he  could  suppose  that 
this  personal  regard  could  be  at  all  weakened  by  any  thing  which  he  had  then  said, 
still  he  felt  himself  so  strongly  impelled,  by  a  sense  of  duty,  that  he  could  not  refrain 
from  expressing  his  opinion.  He  concluded  by  a  suggestion  that  the  best  way  of 
Disposing  of  the  matter  would  be  to  leave  it  to  the  consideration  of  Lord  Ellenborough 
imself;  and  he  was  convinced  that  his  noble  friend  would  arrive  at  that  result  which 
•rould  be  satisfactory  to  the  feelings  of  the  public  as  well  as  to  his  own. 

Lord  Bristol's  motion  was  negatived  without  a  division,  and  Lord 
^llenborough  continued  in  the  cabinet  till  its  dissolution  in  the  follow- 
ing March. 

The  House  of  Lords  having,  in  1805,  on  Lord  Eldon's  advice,* 
excluded  from  the  bill  for  indemnifying  the  witnesses  on  the  im- 
neachment  of  Lord  Melville,  that  part  of  the  measure  which  went  to 
a  bounty  upon  their  evidence  by  protecting  them  against  civil 
an  attempt  was  now  made  in  the  House  of  Commons  to 
accomplish  this  object  by  a  separate  enactment.  When  the  new  bill 
arrived  in  the  House  of  Lords,  Lord  Eldon  opposed  it,  as  in  the  pre- 
ceding year,  on  the  ground  that  no  witness  could  legally  decline  to 
give  an  answer  by  reason  merely  of  its  exposing  him  to  a  civil  action  : 
and  that,  consequently,  the  indemnity  now  proposed  was  not  requisite 
for  getting  at  his  evidence.  The  opinions  of  the  judges  having  been 
desired  respecting  the  witness's  right  to  withhold  the  answer,  and  four 
of  them  having  declared  for  the  right  to  withhold,  while  the  other  eight, 
concurring  with  Lord  Eldon  and  the  lord  chancellor,  were  of  opinion 
that  the  answer  could  not  be  withheld,  it  was  deemed  expedient,  for  the 
removal  of  all  doubt  on  so  important  a  practical  question,  to  bring  in 
a  bill,  which  passed  into  law  as  the  46  Geo.  3.  c.  37,  and  which 
declares  that  a  witness  cannot  refuse  an  answer  on  the  sole  ground 
that  it  may  tend  to  establish  that  he  owes  a  debt  "  or  is  otherwise 
subject  to  a  civil  suit."  The  bill  for  indemnifying  the  particular  wit- 
nesses on  the  impeachment  of  Lord  Melville  became  thus  unnecessary, 
and  was  accordingly  withdrawn.  f 

How  heavily  the  loss  of  his  son  still  continued  to  bear  upon  Lord 
Eldon's  spirits  will  be  seen  from  the  manner  in  which,  at  the  end  of 
March,  he  pours  out  his  feelings  to  his  friend  Dr.  Swire  :  — 

Extract.—  Not  dated  :  but  endorsed  March  31st,  IS06. 
"  Dear  Swire, 

"I  have  very  frequently  taken  up  my  pen  to  write  to  you.  I  have  as  often  laid 
it  down,  unable  to  bear  up  against  the  intrusion  of  those  melancholy  ideas  which 
always  present  themselves  when  I  see,  hear  or  think  of  any  one  at  once  the  friend 
of  my  departed,  and  of  myself. 

**•*•** 

"  At  the  end  of  thirty  busy  years,  I  have  nothing  to  do,  I  mean  with  this  world,  but 
the  great  work  of  preparing  myself  for  another;  and  I  am  afraid  that  that  is  much  to 
do,  when  a  man  has  been  immersed  in  this  world's  business,  and  such  part  of  its  busi- 
ness as  I  have  been  engaged  in  for  so  many  years.  May  it  not  be  a  blessing,  that  at 
the  beginning  of  that  period  which  I  am  to  employ  better,  I  am  awakened  to  a  sense  of 

»  See  Chap.  XXI. 

f  See  the  parliamentary  debates  of  1806,  vol.  vi.  pp.360.  401.  421.  483.502.  950.  as 
to  the  declaratory  bill;  and  pp.  166.  169.  179.  222.  244.  342.  and  362.  as  to  the  bill  of 
indemnity. 


278  LIFE  OF  LORD 

duty,  by  a  judgment  as  awful  as  that  which,  in  my  loss,  has  been  poured  out  upon 
me!" 

The  Whigs,  fresh  in  government,  and  strong  in  the  confidence  and 
support  of  a  considerable  body  of  the  people,  whose  long-excited 
expectations,  rational  or  irrational,  there  had  not  yet  been  time  to  dis- 
appoint, could  scarcely,  for  the  present,  be  opposed  in  Parliament  with 
any  advantage.  Lord  Eldon,  therefore,  was  not  called  upon  to  come 
forward  in  debate  upon  any  party  question.  The  only  discussion  of 
importance  in  which  he  took  part  before  the  close  of  the  session,  was 
that  of  the  14th  of  May,  on  the  bill  for  the  Relief  of  Insolvent  Debtors ; 
when 

He  said  that  experience  had  now  convinced  him  of  the  evil  attendant  on  these 
occasional  measures,  and  of  the  necessity  of  some  permanent  enactment  for  vesting 
the  property  of  insolvent  debtors  in  the  hands  of  assignees  who  should  have  full 
power  to  deal  for  the  creditors. 

The  principle  thus  propounded  has  been  adopted  by  the  legislature, 
and  forms  the  basis  of  the  existing  law  upon  this  subject. 

The  proceedings  on  the  impeachment  of  Lord  Melville,  which  were 
begun  on  the  29th  of  April,  came  to  a  close  on  the  12th  of  June,  when 
the  defendant  was  wholly  acquitted.  The  majority  in  his  favour  upon 
different  charges  varied  from  27  to  128 : — on  one,  the  4th,  the  favour- 
able verdict  was  unanimous.  Lord  Eldon,  on  every  one  of  the  arti- 
cles, declared  him  not  guilty. 

The  23d  of  July,  1806,  concluded  this  session  of  Parliament. 

On  the  5th  of  the  same  month,  died  Lord  Eldon's  early  instructor, 
the  Rev.  Hugh  Moises,  in  his  eighty-fifth  year.  Mr.  Brewster's  me- 
moir of  him,  quoted  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  work,  describes  his 
monument  erected  in  St.  Nicholas  Church,  Newcastle,  and  gives  from 
the  tablet  the  following  inscription  by  his  distinguished  pupil,  Sir 
William  Scott:— 

Juxta  Requiescit 

REVEHEX nus  HUGO  MOISES,  A.  M. 
Collegii  Divi  Petri  apud  Cantabrigienses 

Olitn  socius, 

Postea,  per  longam  annorum  seriem, 
Ludi  Literarii,  in  hoc  oppido  fundati, 

Prsefectus ; 
Atque  ibidem,  in  Ecclesia  Omnium  Sanctorum, 

Verbi  divini  Prselector. 

Vir  erat  ingeno  eleganti  et  exculto, 

Literis  humanioribus  apprime  ornatus, 

Et  in  his  impertiendis 

Indefessus  ac  felix :  , 

In  regendis  puerorum  animis 

Leni  usus  imperio,  sed  constanti: 

Moribus  facillimis  nee  inficetis, 

Sed  ad  vitse  et  officii  sui  sanctimoniam 

Rite  compositis  : 
Omnium,  quorum  studiis  dirigendis 

Invigilaverat, 

Commodis  in  omni  genere  promovendis, 

Amicissimfc  semper,  ssepe  utiliter,  intentus: 

Religionis,  patriae  institutis  stabilitae, 

Cultor  observantissimus, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  279 

Et  in  concionibus  sacris 

Explicator  diligens,  doctus,  disertus. 

Hoc  monumento  raemoriara  nominis 

Consecrari  voluit 
Permultorura  discipulorum 

Amor  et  veneratio : 
Favente,  et  pecunia  collata  juvante, 

Novacastrensium  Municipio, 
Viri  de  suis  omnibus  optime  meriti 

Grate  memori. 
Obiit  Anno  Salutis  MDCCCVI,  ^Etatis  Suss 

LXXXV, 

Filiis  Hugone  et  Gulielmo  superstitibus.* 

The  subscription  list  is  headed  by  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle. 
Of  the  other  subscribers,  all  of  whom  had  been  the  pupils  of  Mr. 
JVIoises,  Lord  Eldon,  Sir  William  Scott  and  Lord  Collingwood,  stood 
first,  second  and  third. 

On  the  12th  of  September,  1806,  Lord  Thurlow  died.  In  his  de- 
cline, he  gave  a  remarkable  proof  of  his  confidence  in  Lord  Eldon, 
who  thus  speaks  of  it  to  his  daughter-in-law,  Mrs.  Scott,  in  a  letter 
without  date  : — 

*  Near  this  spot  rests 
THE  REVEREND  HUGH  Moiszs,  M.  A. 

Formerly  fellow 

Of  St.  Peter's  College,  Cambridge, 
Afterwards,  for  a  long  series  of  years, 

Master 

Of  the  Foundation  Grammar  School  in  this  town, 

And  lecturer  on  the  Divine  word 

In  the  church  of  All  Saints,  there. 

He  was  a  man  of  elegant  and  cultivated  mind; 

Highly  accomplished  in  polite  letters, 

And  indefatigable  and  felicitous 

In  imparting  them; 
Exercising  a  mild,  but  firm  authority 

In  directing  the  minds  of  youth : 
Of  manners  most  easy,  and  not  without  pleasantry, 

But  duly  chastened 

To  the  sanctity  of  his  life  and  office : 

Anxious,  ever  most  kindly,  and  often  successfully, 

To  forward  in  every  way  the  interests 

Of  all  those,  the  course  of  whose  studies 

He  had  superintended: 
Of  the  religion,  established  by  his  country's  institutions, 

A  most  devout  observer, 

And,ia  his  sacred  discourses, 

A  diligent,  learned  and  elegant  expounder. 

The  affectionate  veneration 

Of  a  numerous  body  of  his  pupils 

Hath  caused  the  memory  of  his  name 

To  be  consecrated  by  this  monument, 

With  the  countenance  and  auxiliary  contribution 

Of  the  Corporation  of  Newcastle, 

Who  remember  with  gratitude 

How  highly  he  deserved  of  all  connected  with  him. 

He  died  in  the  year  of  Grace  1806, 

And  in  the  85th  of  his  age, 
Leaving  two  sons,  Hugh  and  William. 


280  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"My  dearest  Henrietta, 

"I  have  been  much  surprised  to  find  that  rny  old  friend  and  benefactor, Lord  Thur- 
low,  for  such  he  once  was  notwithstanding  politics  had  led  him  to  conduct  himself 
sadly  to  me,  has,  with  marks  of  great  personal  regard  and  confidence,  made  me  one  of 
his  executors.  This  has  affected  me  much." 

The  Anecdote  Book  contains  some  strong  illustrations  of  Lord 
Thurlow's  character : — 

"  Mr.  Fox,  or  Mr.  Burke,  said  of  him,  that  he  looked  wiser  than 
any  man  ever  was.  Burke,  I  think,  speaking  of  his  unbending  man- 
ners in  Parliament,  and  his  courteous  behaviour  when  in  presence  of 
the  king,  said,  '  Thurlow  was  a  sturdy  oak  at  Westminster  and  a 
willow  at  St.  James's.'" 

"Lord  Thurlow  was  asked  how  he  got  through  all  his  business  as 
chancellor:  his  answer  was,  'Just  as  a  pickpocket  gets  through  a 
horse-pond:  he  must  get  through." 

"At  Buxton,  Lord  Thurlow  lodged  with  a  surgeon  and  apothecary, 
opposite  to  whose  house  there  was  a  butcher's  shop.  Lord  Thurlow 
asked  his  landlord  '  whether  he  or  his  opposite  neighbour  killed  the 
most?'" 

"Lord  Thurlow  had  no  mercy,  and  he  ought  not  to  have  had  any, 
on  a  roguish  attorney.  He  had  made  a  certain  attorney  pay  all  the 
costs  of  an  infant's  suit,  in  which  he  was  solicitor,  on  account  of  the 
extremely  improper  manner  in  which  the  cause  had  been  carried  on. 
In  another  suit,  upon  the  death  of  a  tenant  for  life  who  had  been  enti- 
tled to  the  interest  of  a  sum  of  money  in  court,  this  attorney  applied 
to  have  the  fund  out  of  court,  on  the  behalf  of  an  individual  become 
entitled  to  the  principal:  Thurlow  said,  'How,  sir,  do  I  know  that 
the  tenant  for  life  is  dead  ?'  The  attorney  said,  '  I  can  assure  your 
lordship  that  he  is  dead.'  '  I  shall  not,'  says  Thurlow,  '  take  your 
assurance  as  worth  any  thing.  Make  an  affidavit.'  The  attorney 
made  an  affidavit,  swearing  that  the  person  named  in  it  was  dead. 
'Well,'  says  Thurlow, '  and  what  do  you  expect  from  such  an  affidavit? 
How  do  I  know  that  the  man  named  in  the  affidavit  and  the  man 
who  received  the  interest  was  the  same  person  ?'  The  attorney  said, 
'  Then  I  suppose  that  I  must  make  an  affidavit  of  that,  also;  but  surely 
I  am  treated  with  a  degree  of  suspicion  and  harshness  that  I  do  not 
deserve.  I'll  make  the  affidavit — but  your  lordship  will  allow  me  to 
say  that  any  other  judge  would  not  have  required  it.  I  know,  I  must 
know,  the  man  is  dead:  I  was  at  his  funeral.'  'So  you  might  be,' 
says  Thurlow  ;  '  but  how  does  that  prove  that  the  man  who  received 
the  interest,  and  the  man  whose  funeral  you  attended,  was  the  same 
person  ?'  '  My  lord,  hear  me — the  man  who  received  the  interest, 
and  whose  funeral  I  attended,  was  my  client.'  'Why,  sir,'  said 
Thurlow,  'did  you  not  mention  that  at  first?  A  great  deal  of  time 
and  trouble  might  have  been,  saved.  That  he  was  your  client  is 
some  evidence  that  he  may  be  dead ;  nothing  was  so  likely  to  kill 
him." 

Although  the  ministers  had  hitherto  met  with  no  formidable  hin- 
drance in  the  conduct  of  their  parliamentary  business,  they  were  not 
insensible  to  the  consideration,  that  a  House  of  Commons,  elected 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  281 

during  the  administration  of  their  predecessors,  was  very  likely  to 
desert  them  on  the  appearance  of  any  serious  difficulties  at  court  or 
elsewhere.  This  apprehension  may  probably  have  derived  additional 
force  from  the  loss  sustained  by  their  cabinet  in  the  person  of  Mr. 
Fox,  who  died  on  the  13th  of  September,  1806.  Under  all  circum- 
stances, therefore,  they  resolved  to  convene  a  new  Parliament ;  and 
the  dissolution,  which  was  proclaimed  on  the  24th  of  October,  was 
followed  by  the  election  of  a  large  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons 
devoted  to  their  interests. 

The  prospects  of  Lord  Eldon  and  the  other  survivors  of  Mr.  Pitt's 
cabinet,  were  now  overcast  by  a  gloom,  through  which  a  favourable 
change,  though  really  at  no  great  distance,  was  scarcely  to  be  descried 
by  any  human  foresight ;  and,  as  is  common  in  an  unprosperous  cause, 
the  losing  parties  were  much  inclined  to  charge  the  blame  upon  one 
another.  Thus  it  happened  that  Mr.  Canning,  whose  disposition 
to  "  advance  with  the  times"  was  uncongenial  to  the  more  cautious 
temper  of  several  of  his  political  allies,  became  unfortunately  an  ob- 
ject of  some  suspicion  and  dislike  with  Lord  Eldon ;  and  this  feeling, 
though  never  pushed  to  any  downright  personal  quarrel,  appears  to 
have  afterwards  become  a  mutual  and  a  lasting  one.  The  following 
letter,  in  which  Mr.  Canning  and  Lord  Grenville  are  designated  only 
by  their  initials,  has  no  date  of  year  or  month,  but  appears  from  its 
contents  to  have  been  written  very  shortly  after  the  dissolution  had 
been  proclaimed. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.") 

"Monday. 

"I  am  not  the  least  surprised  at  what  you  say  about  C.  I  have  for  sometime 
thought  that  much  less  than  a  dissolution  would  serve  him  as  a  cause  of  separation, 
and  I  suspect  that  Lord  G.  has  known  him  so  well,  as,  by  flattering  his  vanity  on  the 
one  hand,  by  making  him  the  person  of  consequence  to  be  talked  with,  and  alarming 
that  vanity  on  the  other  by  disclaiming  intercourse  through  any  body,  with  the  Pitt- 
ites as  a  body,  to  make  him  the  instrument  of  shaking,  among  the  Pittites,  that 
mutual  confidence,  which  was  essential  to  give  them  weight,  and  thus  to  keep 
them  in  the  state  of  a  rope  of  sand  till  a  dissolution,  when  he  won't  care  one  fig 
for  them  all  put  together.  The  king's  conduct  does  not  astonish  me,  though  I  think 
it  has  destroyed  him.  His  language  to  me  led  me  to  hope  better  things;  and,  in  cha- 
rity, [  would  suppose  from  it,  that  his  heart  does  not  go  with  his  act.  But  his  years, 
his  w;mt  of  sight,  the  domestic  falsehood  and  treachery  which  surround  him,  and 
some  feeling  (just  enough,  I  think),  of  resentment  at  our  bavins  deserted  him  on  Mr. 
Pitt's  death,  and,  as  to  myself  particularly,  the  uneasiness,  which  in  his  mind,  the 
presence  of  a  person  who  attended  him  in  two  fits  of  insanity  excites,  have  conspired 
to  make  him  do  an  act  unjust  to  himself.  I  consider  it  as  a  fatal  and  final  blow  to 
the  hopes  of  many  who  have  every  good  wish  of  mine.  As  to  myself  personally, 
looking  at  matters  on  all  sides,  I  think  the  chancellorship  would  never  revert  to  me, 
even  if  things  had  taken  another  turn,  and  it  is  not  on  my  own  account  I  lament  the 
turn  they  have  taken.  As  to  any  other  office,  I  could  have  no  motive,  on  my  own 
account,  to  wish  for  any,  and,  with  a  disposition  to  co-operate  for  the  good  of  others 
who  have  public  objects,  I  have  only  to  pray  God  to  continue  to  me,  if  it  be  his  plea- 
sure, the  other  sources  of  happiness  of  a  private  kind.  I  have  had  a  letter  from  Lord 
Redesdale,  also  very  dismal,  and,  in  its  contents  about  the  prince,  like  yours.  The 
Duke  of  Cumberland  sent  me  a  military  express  to  inform  me  of  the  dissolution. 

"  Ever  yours,  affectionately, 

"ELDOX." 

Meanwhile  the  king,  though  certainly  not  very  cordially  disposed 


282  LIFE  OF  LORD 

to  his  ministers,  appears  to  have    abstained,  with  perfect  fairness, 
from  any  political  intercourse  with  their  opponents. 

(The.  Duke  of  Portland  to  Lord  Eldon.}— (Extract.) 

"  Bulstrode,  Nov.  24th,  1806. 

"I  will  add  little  to  the  length  of  this  letter,  except  to  contradict  the  rumours  you 
have  heard  of  any  intimation  having  been  made  to  me,  either  directly  or  indirectly," 
of  H.  M.'s  sentiments  upon  any  political  subject  whatever.  H.  M.  was  pleased  to 
come  to  this  place  on  the  Saturday  before  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  accompanied 
only  by  the  queen  and  princesses,  and  the  Dukes  of  York  and  Cambridge;  but  not 
a  syllable,  or  even  allusion  to  the  present  state  of  things  or  to  the  event  then  impend- 
ing, (with  which,  however,  I  have  some  reason  to  think,  he  was  at  that  time  unac- 
quainted), except,  if  it  can  bear  such  an  interpretation,  his  repeatedly,  for  three  or 
four  times,  expressing  his  regret  at  having  a  good  memory,  and  lamenting  it  as  a 
serious  misfortune.  Believe  me,  my  dearest  lord,  nothing  can  relieve  my  mind  so 
much  as  unburthening  it  to  you  in  the  present  crisis.  The  friendship  I  have  for  so 
many  years  experienced  for  you,  teaches  me  to  believe  that  I  cannot  use  any  argu- 
ment so  likely  to  induce  you  to  gratify  my  wishes.  I,  therefore,  conclude,  with  the 
most  cordial  assurances  of  regard  and  attachment, 

"Your  lordship's  most  faithfully  ever, 

"  PORTLAND." 

The  session  of  Parliament  opened  on  the  15th  of  December,  and 
such  was  the  state  of  public  affairs,  especially  in  reference  to  the 
failure  of  the  negotiation  for  peace  with  France,  and  to  the  progress 
of  the  war,  that  it  was  not  thought  expedient  to  adjourn  for  the  usual 
recess  at  Christmas.  In  the  beginning  of  the  new  year,  1807,  the 
whole  question  of  the  negotiation  and  of  the  war  was  brought  by 
ministers  before  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  on  motions  for  addresses 
to  the  crown.  The  address  of  the  Lords  was  moved  by  Lord  Gren- 
ville  on  the  2d  of  January ;  and  of  the  debate  on  this  motion,  a  lively 
description  remains,  in  a  letter  written  the  following  day  by  Lord 
Eldon  to  his  brother,  Sir  William :  — 

"Jan.  3d,  1307. 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"I  learnt  in  the  debate  last  night,  that  the  treaty  with  America  was  signed — and,  as 
rumour  represented  the  matter,  that  we  had,  in  some  colourable  way,  given  up  the 
question  about  neutrals  carrying  colonial  produce.  Alas,  poor  Britain!  times  were 
when  we  should  have  said,  'If  your  Non-Importation  Act  is  to  exist  as  a  threat,  nego- 
tiation cannot,  consistently  with  our  honour,  go  on  whilst  it  exists;  repeal  it  before 
we  treat;' — but  we  have  submitted,  with  that  rod  over  our  heads,  it  seems,  to  give  up 
what  we  have  manibus  pedibusque  maintained  for  so  many  years,  and  at  so  great  a 
price. 

"  Our  proceedings  of  last  night,  and  relative  to  last  night,  were  curious  indeed.  At 
Castle reagh's,  last  Monday,  Canning  and  Perceval  and  myself  dined,  to  talk  over  the 
negotiation  papers. — Hawkesbury  sent  an  excuse,  and  mentioned  in  it  that  he  should 
attend  the  Lords  to  state  his  ideas  upon  peace  and  war.  The  Duke  of  Portland  came 
to  town  and  attended  yesterday,  as  he  said  he  thought  no  man  ought  to  be  absent 
when  countenance  was  to  be  given  to  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  He  showed  me  a 
letter  from  Lord  Camden,  in  which  he  said  that  Hawkesbury  had  stated  to  him  that 
there  would  be  a  thin  attendance,  that  it  had  better  be  so;  and  Camden  added,  that, 
for  that  reason,  and  because  there  was  no  plan,  he  was  gone  out  of  town;  so  was 
Chatham,  Westmoreland,  &c.  &c.:  and  when  we  got  to  the  Lords,  the  attendance  was 
thin,  sure  enough,  on  both  sides.  On  ours,  nobody  but  Cumberland,  Portland,  self, 
Hawkesbury,  Dynevor,  Redesdale  and  one  or  two  more;  the  throne  crowded  with  mem- 
bers of  Commons  to  hear  the  debate.  Grenville  began  it :  after  him  Hawkesbury  got 
up  and  made  a  speech  upon  peace  and  war ;  dropped  a  few  slurs  upon  the  negotiation , 
and  sat  down;  then  eo  instanti,  jogging  me  to  speak,  which  I  declined.  Sidmouth  got 
up  then:  and,  among  other  topics,  insisted  that  no  man  could  have  an  understanding 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  283 

so  perverse  as  not  to  agree  that  it  appeared  from  the  papers,  that  the  offer  of  the  uti 
possidetis  originated  the  negotiation. 

******** 

"Perceval,  on  the  throne,  communicated  to  me  the* and  discountenance, 

with  which  they  must  begin  in  the  Commons  on  .Monday,  if,  with  only  Hawkesbury's 
speech,  which  had  hardly  any  thing  to  do  with  the  subject,  and  these  high-flying  asser- 
tions of  Sidmouth's  in  the  Lords,  they  were  to  take  the  matter  up  in  the  Commons. 
The  Lords'  House  was  half  full  of  the  Commons  at  this  moment.  Out  of  regard  to 
him,  and  really  stung  with  the  bold  effrontery  of  Sidinouth,  I  got  up — asserted  the 
duty  of  every  man  to  concur  in  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war ;  that  I  was  sorry 
any  thing  had  been  said  about  the  papers  proving  that  the  uti  possidttis  had  been 
offered  to  us;  that,  in  the  proposed  address,  there  was  nothing  that  pledged  us  on  that ; 
that  I  could  have  wished,  if  we  could  not  agree  on  that,  the  subject  had  been  as  it 
well  might  have  been,  reserved  for  separate  consideration  on  a  separate  motion  some 
other  night;  but  that  it  was  impossible,  after  the  bold  assertions  that  had  been  thrown 
out,  and  considering  the  nature  of  a  king's  declaration,  not  to  go  the  length  of  say- 
ing that  one  deeply  lamented  that  the  king's  declaration  contained  an  assertion  about 
the  uti  pussidetus  which  not  only  was  not  proved  by  the  papers,  but  was  disproved  by 
the  papers;  and  that  u  was  inexcusable  to  assert  this,  without  establishing,  by  rea- 
soning on  the  papers,  the  truth  of  the  assertion.  I  then  went  through  them.  As  the 
argument  consisted  of  what  they  were  pleased  to  call '  twisting  all  the  papers,'  there 
can  be  no  report  of  it  representing  it  intelligibly.  I  am  sure  I  proved  my  point. 
Grenville,  I  observed,  would  not  let  any  body  attempt  the  answer  but  himself,  and  he 
answered  it  by  saying,  (or  that  was  the  amount  of  it,)  that  Lord  Yarmouth,  if  he  had 
not  in  the  papers  asserted  plainly,  now  asserted  plainly,  and  ought  to  be  believed. 
Perceval  and  Castlereagh  departed  well  content,  and  ready  for  the  House  on  Monday; 
I  am  sure  a  great  deal  might  have  been  made  of  the  folly  displayed,  in  this  negotia- 
tion ;  bat  neither  of  this  nor  any  thing  else  will  any  thing  be  made,  as  men  act  at 
present. 

"  Yours  ever, 

«E." 

The  result  of  the  general  election  had  naturally  dispirited  the  oppo- 
sition. Some  of  them  went  so  far  as  to  profess  their  opinion  that  the 
dissolution  of  Parliament  had  put  an  end  to  all  hope  of  better  days. 
There  had  been,  however,  a  good  deal  of  dissatisfaction  among  the 
people,  at  the  coalition  of  the  Grenville  party  with  the  Whigs ;  and 
Lord  Eldon,  who  had  a  rooted  dislike  of  such  conjunctions,  was 
anxious  that  his  political  allies  should  make  a  rally  on  that  popular 
ground.  He  felt  that  his  own  exertions  were  marred  by  their  despond- 
ency ;  and  seems  to  have  disclosed  his  dissatisfaction  to  the  Marchi- 
oness of  Abercorn,  in  a  conversation  which,  having  been  reported 
by  her  ladyship  in  her  correspondence  with  Lord  Melville,  led  to  the 
interchange  of  the  following  letters  between  him  and  Lord  Eldon. 

(Lard  Eldon  to  Lord  Melville.}— (Extracts.) 

"January,  1807. 

"My  dear  Lord, 

"Sir  William  Grant,  with  your  permission,  put  into  my  hands  a  copy  of  your  letter 
to  your  son,  Mr.  Dundas,  and  I  have  had  a  communication  with  Lady  A.,  who,  I  find, 
had  named  me  in  her  correspondence  with  your  lordship.  In  what  terms  Lady  A. 
represented  to  you  the  tenour  of  my  conversation  with  her,  I  don't  know;  but,  to  the 
best  of  my  recollection,  that  conversation,  on  my  part,  was  not  expressive  of  any 
complaint'(for  circumstances  would  not  justify  me  in  making  complaint,)  but  express- 
ive of  concern.  The  weight,  which  I  know,  from  long  experience,  is  due  to  your 
opinions,  made  me  feel  certainly  most  strongly  what  would  be,  and  must  be,  the  effect 
of  your  sentiments  (of  which  I  had  occasionally  heard)  as  to  the  consequences  of  the 
dissolution." 

Lord  Eldon  then  intimates  his  own  opinion,  that  the  dissolution 
*  The  next  words  are  torn  away  with  the  seal. 


284  LIFE  OF  LORD 

was  not  likely  to  have  such  effects  as  would  justify  the  despondency 
then  prevalent,  and  proceeds  thus :  — 

"  I  had  also,  for  twelve  months  past,  observed,  not  without  grief,  that  all  my  exhort- 
ations to  plan,  to  union,  to  system,  had  been  thrown  away  upon  every  body  here.  If 
they  had  not,  I  think  I  should  at  this  moment  have  seen  a  very  different  state  of 

things. 

******* 

"  I  certainly  did  express  strongly,  at  the  Priory,  my  fears  that  the  opinion  expressed 
by  your  lordship  (to  which  so  much  respect  would  be  paid  because  it  was  due  to  it), 
upon  this  measure,  would  greatly  augment  the  panic  that  existed,  whilst  it  did  not  ap- 
pear to  me  that  it  could  do  any  good. 

******* 

"Upon  the  matter  of  fact  (what  this  dissolution  does  prove  as  to  the  mind  or  inten- 
tion of  any  body*  concerned  in  if),  we  may  live  to  converse  together;  but  whatever 
my  belief  of  the  actual  mind  and  intention  of  any  person  concerned  in  it  may  be, 
though  you  know  I  am  no  politician,  I  should  be  deservedly  thought  an  idiot,  if  I  did 
not  feel  with  what  universality  it  will  be  deemed  to  import  that  mind  and  intention 
which  you  think  it  imports,  and  how  impossible  it  is  to  give  weight  generally  to  any 
grounds  of  belief  to  the  contrary,  unless  they  are  furnished  by  acts  or  declarations, 
for  which  it  cannot  be  reasonable  to  look.  That  mischief,  great  mischief,  has  been 
done,  let  the  truth  of  the  case  be  what  it  may  be,  cannot  be  doubted.  My  poor  opin- 
ion is,  that  it  will  be  augmented,  and  unnecessarily,  if  we  act  upon  the  supposition 
that  it  will  not  bear  dispute  what  the  truth  of  the  case  is. 

"  You  have  known  me  since  the  year  of  1783,  fighting  by  the  side  of  that  illustrious 
man,  Mr.  Pitt,  now  no  more,  in  every  moment  of  the  years  which  have  since  glided 
away — save  in  that  period  in  which  I  may,  I  think,  say  that,  with  his  permission  and 
at  his  request,  I  took  the  seals.  According  to  my  humble  powers  I  fought  by  his  side, 
because  I  sincerely  wished  well  to  his  principles.  There  was  one  act  in  which,  if  he 
ever  did  me  the  honour  to  name  me  in  his  conversation  with  your  lordship,  you  know 
I  could  not  go  along  with  him.  I  mean  his  proposition,  when  he  last  came  into  office, 
to  call  into  the  king's  councils  Mr.  Fox.  I  told  him  at  that  time  that,  if  that  measure 
took  effect,  I  should  support  him,  Mr.  Pitt, — as  a  private  individual,  but  not  in  office, 
— that  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  him  to  give  him  a  proof,  by  retiring  from  office,  of  the 
sincerity  of  my  opinion  that  this  measure  could  not  be  advisable;  because,  if  abstract 
reasoning  could  be  found  to  prove  it  to  be  so,  I  was  convinced  that,  in  fact,  the  mea- 
sure would  destroy  the  utility  of  his  character,  the  most  precious  possession  of  this 
country ;  and  that  I  should  live  to  see  the  day  when  it  would  be  more  than  difficult  to 
blame  the  effect  of  connections  against  him,  if  he  was  living,  or  against  his  memory, 
if  he  was  dead,  and  more  than  difficult  to  blame  them  effectually,  because  it  would  be 
urged  that  he  had  wished  and  offered  to  form  similar  connections.  Personal  animosity 
against  Mr.  Fox  I  had  none,  nor  against  any  other  man;  and  though  I  have  had  the 
honour  of  having  credit  given  me  for  intrigue, — now  my  political  life  is  probably  over, 
I  cannot  plead  guilty  to  the  charge  of  having  been  a  political  intriguer,  unless  I  have 
been  such  because  I  uniformly  gave  that  illustrious  man  the  advice  which  a  pure  and 
disinterested  regard  for  him  made  it  my  duty  to  give  him.  I  told  him  at  that  day,  in 
effect,  that  much  as  I  loved  him,  I  had  rather  see  Mr.  Fox  sole  minister  than  Mr.  Pitt 
the  minister  with  him,  unless  he  could  find  the  means  of  persuading  the  world,  which 
no  man  ever  yet  found  in  such  circumstances,  that  he  had  not  changed  his  principles. 
I  have  lived,  my,  lord,  to  the  day  to  which  I  then  look  forward;  and  I  do  believe  that 
much,  very  much,  of  what  I  see  at  this  day  reprehensible,  grossly  reprehensible  as 
it  is,  stands  unreprehended  from  a  pious  fear  that  the  transactions  of  those  days  to 
which  I  have  been  alluding  should  be  cited  to  justify  much  of  what  we  see, — and, 
when  the  grave  shuts  up  all  power  of  explanation,  may  be  cited  to  the  prejudice  of 
the  memory  of  that  illustrious  character,  which  is,  indeed,  a  sacred  deposit,  which 
Jus  country  is  bound  to  cherish,  and  his  chosen  surviving  friends  to  protect." 

After  stating  that  he  had  thought  it  his  duty  to  be  at  his  post 
throughout  the  preceding  session,  in  the  hope  that  others  might  also 
attend,  consult  and  co-operate,  which  they,  however,  had  failed  to  do, 
he  adds, — 

*  In  allusion  to  the  king. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  285 

"Notwithstanding  my  lectures  were  so  utterly  disregarded  last  session  upon  this 
head,  I  thought  I  perceived  somewhat  of  a  disposition  to  believe  now  that  general 
understanding  was  advisable,  and  that  the  necessity  of  it  could  be  better  enforced  by 
a  little  conversation  than  by  a  great  deal  of  correspondence." 

He  concludes  this  long  letter  thus,  — 

"If  a  determination  should  be  soon  taken  to  come  to  some  communication  upon 
the  important  points  to  which  we  have  been  alluding,  that  communication  can  alone 
enable  me  to  judge,  as  it  seems  to  me,  whether  so  much  of  practical  good,  (acting 
upon  the  principles  which  have  governed  my  former  life)  can  be  attained,  as  makes 
it  a  duty  to  co-operate  with  those  who  are  seeking  to  attain  it.  If  it  be  a  duty,  all  that 
I  can  contribute  to  the  attainment  of  it,  I  shall  cheerfully  contribute.  If,  unhappily, 
there  should  be  any  irreconcilable  difference  of  opinion,  I  can  retire;  but  some  in- 
telligible proceeding  must  be  had,  and  soon.  For  more  particular  discussion  I  shall 
reserve  myself  till  I  see  you.  My  compliments  attend  Lady  M. 

"  Believe  me,  my  dear  lord,  very  truly  yours, 

"  ELUOX." 

As  a  composition,  this  letter,  no  doubt,  is  very  defective ;  but  the 
diffuseness  and  intricacy  of  its  style  are  amply  compensated  by  the 
good  sense  and  manliness  of  its  spirit, — a  spirit  justified,  too,  as  it 
speedily  was,  by  the  return  of  that  better  fortune  which,  in  politics 
as  in  war,  is  apt  to  favour  the  brave.  Lord  Melville  answers  thus :  — 

(Lord  Melville  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"  Duneira,  January  29ih,  1807. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  yesterday  received  your  letter,  and  of  course  the  material  parts  of  it  are  much 
better  subjects  for  personal  discussion  than  a  letter.  And  as  I  had  occasion  within 
these  few  days  to  write  an  account  of  my  general  sentiments,  and  of  my  intended 
motions  southwards,  to  Mr.  Perceval,  it  is  the  less  necessary  to  trouble  your  lordship 
with  a  repetition  of  them.  I  take  it  for  granted  your  lordship  is  in  confidential  com- 
munication with  him,  and  he  has  probably  shown  to  you  what  I  have  recently  written 
to  him.  You  allude  to  one  topic  in  which  I  am  afraid  I  can  scarcely  agree  with  you. 
There  were  two  periods  when  Mr.  Pitt  wished  to  have  broke  down  the  great  phalanx 
of  opposition  which  was  forming,  and  afterwards  formed,  to  storm  the  closet  of  the 
king.  The  first  was  when  Mr.  Aldington  was  at  the  head  of  government,  and  when 
all  that  Mr.  Pitt  stipulated  as  the  conditions  of  his  return  to  power  was  the  liberty  of 
proposing  his  two  former  colleagues,  Lords  Spencer  and  Grenville,  to  the  king,  to 
return  to  office.  You  know  how  that  broke  off.  The  other  period  was  when  he  came 
last  to  the  head  of  the  government.  When  he  made  up  his  mind  to  that  proposition, 
I  was  in  Scotland,  where  he  wrote  to  me  fully,  and  in  detailed  explanation  of  his 
motives  for  it.  He  thought  the  times  (especially  on  the  continent)  were  critical 
beyond  expression;  and  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  accomplish  anything  with 
effect,  unless  it  was  possible  for  two  or  three  years  to  respite  all  faction  and 
opposition  at  home.  Recollecting  the  effects  such  a  coalition  had  upon  the  character 
of  Lord  North,  and  sincerely  anxious  at  all  times  for  the  purity  of  Mr.  Pitt's  fame, 
I  at  first  shuddered  at  the  proposition;  but  I  own  the  strength  of  his  reasoning  got 
the  better  of  my  sentiments,  and  often  as  I  have  since  thought  of  it,  I  have  always 
considered  it  as  a  proof  both  of  his  wisdom  and  magnanimity.  Personal  resent- 
ments he  never  entertained  against  any  person ;  all  his  antipathies,  when  they  at 
any  time  existed,  were  of  a  public  nature.  When  I  saw  Mr.  Pitt  at  Bath,  a  short 
time  before  his  death,  he  informed  me  of  the  advice,  to  the  same  effect,  he  had  given 
to  the  king  at  Weymouth,  and  then  told  me  that  one  of  the  reasons  which  induced 
him  to  urge  his  majesty  on  the  subject,  was  his  own  declining  health,  which  he  men- 
tioned to  the  king;  but  the  king's  reply  was  of  a  nature  which  put  an  end  to  farther 
discussion.  I  was  well  aware  of  the  state  of  his  health,  more,  perhaps,than  any  other 
individual;  for,  more  than  two  years  before  he  died,  and  in  the  last  interview  I  ever 
had  with  him,  the  day  before  he  left  Bath,  and  when  from  circumstances  I  am  posi- 
tive he  was  aware  of  his  own  situation,  he  emphatically  said,  that  he  wished  the  king 
might  not  live  to  repent,  and  sooner  than  he  thought,  the  rejection  of  the  advice  he 
had  pressed  upon  him  at  Weymouth.  Such  is  the  short  history  of  those  attempts  he 
made  to  annihilate  (at  least  for  a  while)  any  strong  faction  in  the  country.  I  know 


286  LIFE  OF  LORD 

it  has  been  often  stated  what  you  hint  at,  that  Mr.  Fox,  &c.  were  thereby  whitewashed. 
That  is  really  a  misstatement  of  the  case.  If  his  attempts  had  been  successful  at  any 
of  the  times  to  which  I  allude,  both  Lord  Grenville  and  Mr.  Fox  would  have  been 
under  (he  control  of  Mr.  Pitt,  as  the  head  of  government ;  and  if,  at  any  time,  either  the 
one  or  other  had  attempted  any  thing  wrong,  he,  possessing  the  complete  confidence 
of  the  king,  and  disposed  at  all  times  to  protect  him,  could,  without  difficulty,  have 
got  rid  of  them,  and  always,  while  he  lived,  modeled  the  government  as  he  pleased, 
and  to  act  upon  his  own  principles.  Compare  that  state  of  the  king  and  the  country 
with  the  state  of  both  now,  and  then  judge  of  the  wisdom  and  rectitude  of  Mr.  Pitt's 
views.  But  perhaps  I  have  entered  too  much  into  a  discussion  of  a  situation  and  of 
times  now  gone  by. 

"Till  I  am  in  London  and  know,  as  far  as  possible,  the  state  of  the  king's  disposi- 
tions in  the  first  place,  and  of  some  considerable  individuals  in  the  second,  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  form  even  a  conjecture  how  far  any  practical  remedy  can  be 
applied  to  the  existing  evils.  I  will  not  detain  you  longer  than  to  assure  you  that  I 
remain,  my  dear  Lord  Eldon,  with  the  most  perfect  regard, 

"  Yours,  truly  and  sincerely, 

"  MELVILLE." 

The  bill  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  was  among  the  most 
important  measures  of  this  session.  It  was  originated  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  where  Lord  Grenville  introduced  it  on  the  2d  of  January, 
1807.  On  that  occasion  Lord  Eldon  had  intimated  his  opinion,  that 
even  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  to  which  the  operation  of  this  bill  was 
confined,  the  slave  trade  could  not  be  abolished,  unless  other  powers 
should  concur  in  the  measures  which  the  British  government  might 
adopt.  On  the  4th  of  February  a  further  discussion  arose,  respecting 
the  question  whether  the  counsel  who  had  been  heard  for  the  mer- 
chants of  Liverpool  against  the  bill,  should  be  permitted  to  examine 
witnesses  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords  before  the  second  reading. 

Lord  Eldon  gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that  the  examination  of  witnesses  was  not 
necessary  for  the  present ;  but  desired  not  to  be  precluded  from  voting  for  the  admis- 
sion of  evidence  in  a  future  stage.  He  feared  that  the  measure  now  proposed,  while 
it  would  utterly  destroy  the  British  interests  involved  in  the  trade,  would  not  diminish 
the  transport  of  negroes  or  effect  the  preservation  of  one  single  individual.  But  if  a 
change  of  national  policy  on  this  subject  should  be  resolved  on,  he  hoped  that  due 
compensation  would  be  assigned.  The  extent  of  the  interests  to  be  then  compen- 
sated could  be  ascertained  only  by  the  examination  of  witnesses. 

The  circumspection  and  caution  of  Lord  Eldon  upon  this  subject 
were  represented  by  his  political  opponents  as  betokening  a  disposi- 
tion adverse  to  freedom  as  well  as  to  reform.  But  the  ground  of  his 
resistance,  as  he  distinctly  declared,  was  no  reluctance  to  redress  any 
opposition  or  grievance,  but  a  persuasion  that  the  cause  of  justice 
and  humanity  would  gain  nothing  by  the  abolition  as  then  proposed. 
The  results  have  but  too  amply  fulfilled  his  forebodings.  For  want 
of  the  requisite  concurrence  on  the  part  of  foreign  states,  the  total  of 
suffering  endured  by  the  African  race,  instead  of  having  been  dimi- 
nished, has  been  frightfully  augmented.  Manifold  are  the  difficulties 
which  start  up,  and  infinite  is  the  caution  which  must  be  employed, 
in  attempting  the  cure  of  any  abuse  wherein  trading  interests  are 
extensively  involved.  It  may  have  been  fitting  that,  even  at  all 
hazards  of  exposing  the  Africans  to  increased  suffering  from  the  more 
merciless  cupidity  of  foreign  adventurers,  England  should  relieve 
herself  from  the  crime  of  continuing  the  slave  trade ;  but  justice 
should  be  done  to  the  practical  humanity  of  those  who  desired  only, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  287 

before  they  ventured  upon  extensive  changes,  to  make  sure  that  the 
old  mischief  would  not  be  reproduced  in  a  new  and  more  virulent 
shape. 

During  the  summer  of  the  preceding  year,  the  ministers  had  been 
much  occupied  with  an  investigation  into  the  behaviour  of  Caroline, 
Princess  of  Wales.  Certain  charges  against  her  had  been  laid  by  her 
consort  before  his  majesty,  who  appointed  four  members  of  the  cabi- 
net, Lord  Chancellor  Erskine,  Earl  Spencer  and  the  Lords  Grenville 
and  Ellenborough,  commissioners  for  inquiring  into  the  matters  al- 
leged. As  these  noblemen  belonged  to  the  party  called  "  The 
prince's  friends,"  the  accused  princess  not  unnaturally  threw  herself 
upon  the  advice  of  their  political  opponents,  among  whom  Lord 
Eldon  and  Mr.  Perceval  were  her  chief  counsellors.  Her  royal 
highness's  letters  to  Lord  Eldon  on  this  subject  succeed  each  other 
rapidly  from  June,  1806,  to  the  end  of  that  year.  A  few  of  them  only 
have  sufficient  interest  for  insertion  here. 

(The  Princess  of  Wales  to  Lord  Eldon.')— (Extract.) 

"  Blackheath,  June  24th,  1806. 
"  My  dear  Sir,* 

'•I  must  mention  to  your  lordship  that  the  two  letters  from  Lady  Douglas  to  Mrs. 
Fitz  Gerald,  which  your  lordship  saw  on  the  occasion,  never  to  enter  again  to  my 
house,  (which  would  have  been  very  great  proofs  against  Lady  Douglas,  and  show 
her  true  character,)  have  been  taken  out  of  my  drawers,  in  which  all  the  papers  were, 
and  upon  each  was  written  what  were  the  contents  of  each  different  parcel.  Yester- 
day, to  my  greatest  astonishment,  I  missed  that  parcel.  Every  search  in  the  world 
has  been  made,  in  case  my  bad  memory  had  led  me  to  put  it  in  some  other  place; 
but  I  have  not  succeeded  to  find  them,  and  am  led  to  believe,  that  the  same  person, 
who  was  able  to  take  a  hundred  pound  from  Carlton  House,  could  easily  take  this 
parcel,  which  was  so  great  a  proof  against  Lady  Douglas's  character.  No  step  has 
been  taken  by  me  to  find  out  if  he  is  the  guilty  one.  In  case  you  wish  to  see  me,  I 
shall  be  very  happy  to  receive  you  to-morrow,  or  on  Thursday  morning,  at  any  hour, 
and  I  beg  and  entreat  of  your  lordship,  to  take  it  well  into  consideration,  that  it  is 
quite  impossible  for  me  to  remain  any  longer  silent  upon  this  subject,  in  which  my 
honour  is  so  much  implicated,  and  which  is  so  much  the  talk  of  the  public  at  this 
moment,  that  I  hope  your  lordship  will  take  it  in  the  most  serious  light,  and  to  take 
some  step  which  will  lead  to  any  conclusion,  whatever  it  may  be.  My  health,  as 
well  as  my  spirits,  suffer  too  much  to  be  left  any  longer  in  suspense;  and  you,  who 
have  always  shown  yourself  as  a  sincere  friend  of  me,  will  feel  as  I  do  upon  this 
subject  I  remain  for  ever,  with  the  truest  sentiments  of  high  regard,  esteem  and 
friendship, 

"  Your  lordship's  sincere  friend." 

(No  name  subscribed.) 

The  commissioners  made  a  report,  fully  acquitting  the  princess  on 
the  main  charge,  which  was  that  of  having  given  birth  to  a  child  in 
1802,  but  adding,  "that  evidence  had  been  laid  before  them  of  other 
particulars  respecting  the  conduct  of  her  royal  highness,  such  as 
must,  especially  considering  her  exalted  rank  and  station,  necessarily 
give  occasion  to  very  unfavourable  interpretations.  This  report  was 
dated  the  14th  of  July,  1806.  The  unhappy  lady,  who  was  the  sub- 
ject of  it,  seems  not  to  have  been  regularly  apprised  of  its  contents 
until  the  llth  of  August,  when  a  copy  of  it  was  sent  to  her  by  Lord 
Erskine.  Meanwhile,  on  the  25th  of  July,  she  wrote  as  follows  to 
Lord  Eldon  : 

*  Sic  in  orig. 


288  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"  Blackheath,  July  23lh,  1SOS. 

"The  Princess  of  Wales  entreats  and  desires  Lord  Eldon  to  go  as  to-morrow  to 
Windsor,  and  to  ask  an  audience  of  his  majesty,  and  to  deliver  to  his  majesty  the 
enclosed  letter.*  The  princess  is  under  very  great  apprehension,  that  the  report  made 
from  the  examination,  to  his  majesty,  has  not  been  fairly  and  literally  delivered  to  his 
majesty.  She  wishes  for  that  reason  that  Lord  Eldon  should  verbally  explain  and 
open  his  eyes  on  the  unjust  and  unloyal  proceedings  of  his  ministers.  The  princess 
cannot  help  thinking  that  his  majesty  has  been  led  into  error,  otherwise  he  would 
have  by  this  time  shown  his  usual  generosity  and  justice  by  declaring  the  princess's 
innocence.  The  princess  is  quite  resigned  to  her  cruel  fate,  from  the  period  that  her 
honour  was  in  the  hands  of  a  pack  of  ruffians,  and  who  are  only  devoted,  and  slaves 
to  her  most  inveterate  enemy.  The  princess  hopes  that  on  Sunday  Lord  Eldon  will 
be  able  to  give  her  a  satisfactory  account  of  the  reception  he  received  of  his  majesty, 
and  the  princess  has  been  now  for  seven  weeks  in  the  most  dreadful  and  tormenting 
suspense.  The  princess  will  be  very  much  obliged  if  Lord  Eldon  will  do  her  the 
favour  of  losing  no  time  for  setting  off  for  Windsor  and  of  seeing  the  king.  The 
princess  sends  to  his  lordship  the  letter  to  the  king  for  his  perusal.  If  he  should 
wish  to  alter  any  part  in  the  letter,  the  princess  desires  that  Lord  Eldon  would  mark 
it  down  and  send  it  back;  the  princess  would,  in  less  than  an  hour,  send  it  to  him 
again. 

"The  princess  remains,  with  the  highest  esteem  and  regard,  his  lordship's  most 

"  Sincere  friend, 

"  C.  P." 

Having  obtained  a  copy  of  the  report  on  the  llth  of  August,  the 
princess  addressed,  on  the  12th,  a  letter  to  the  king,  solemnly  pro- 
testing her  innocence  of  the  levities  which  the  report  imputed  to  her, 
and  praying  to  be  re-admitted  into  his  majesty's  presence.  Again 
in  the  same  month,  and  yet  again  in  the  beginning  of  October,  she 
renewed  her  representations  to  the  king  by  letter ;  but  so  far  without 
success:  though  in  the  course  of  that  autumn  she  received,  from 
several  members  of  the  royal  family,  some  civilities  which  warrant 
the  belief  that  whatever  might  be  the  opinion  of  the  ministers,  the 
king  was  disposed  to  take  a  favourable  view  of  her  case. 

(  The  Princess  of  Wales  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"Blackheath,  Oct.  13th,  ISOC. 

"The  Princess  of  Wales,  with  the  most  grateful  sense,  is  most  sincerely  obliged 
to  Lord  Eldon  for  his  kind  inquiry  through  Lady  Sheffield. 

"  Her  body  as  well  as  her  mind  have  naturally  much  suffered  from  the  last  melan- 
choly catastrophe,  having  lost  in  so  short  a  time,  and  so  unexpectedly,  a  most  kind 
and  affectionate  brother  and  a  sincere  friend.  The  afflictions  which  Providence  has 
sent  so  recently  to  her  are  very  severe  trials  of  patience  and  resignation,  and  nothing 
than  strong  feelings  of  religion  and  piety  could  with  any  sort  of  fortitude  carry  the 
princess's  dejected  mind. through  this.  She  puts  her  only  trust  in  Providence,  which 
has  so  kindly  protected  her  in  various  ways  since  she  is  in  this  kingdom. 

"The  princess  also  has  the  pleasure  to  inform  his  lordship  that  the  queen  has 
twice  made  inquiry,  by  Lady  Ilchester,  through  Lady  Sheffield,  about  the  princess's 
bodily  and  mental  state.  The  Duchess  of  York,  through  her  lady  to  Lady  Sheffield, 
and  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  in  the  same  way,  made  their  inquiries.  The  Duke  of 
Kent  wrote  himself  to  the  princess,  which  of  course  she  answered  herself.  The 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  who  has  twice  been  with  the  princess  after  the  melancholy 
event  took  place,  desired  her  to  announce  herself  to  his  majesty  the  unexpected  event 
of  the  death  of  the  prince  hereditary  of  Brunswick.  She  followed  his  advice,  and  the 
letter  was  sent  through  Lady  Sheffield  to  Colonel  Taylor.  The  answer  was  kind 
from  his  majesty,  and  full  of  feeling  of  interest  for  the  severe  loss  she  sustained  in 
her  brother.  Lady  Sheffield's  health  did  not  allow  her  to  stay  longer  with  the 
princess.  Mrs.  Vernon,  one  of  her  ladies,  is  now  at  Montague  House,  in  case  his 
lordship  wished  to  write  by  her  to  the  princess. 

"The  princess  trusts  that  soon  she  will  have  comfortable  and  pleasing  tidings  to 
relate  to  Lord  Eldon.  She  has,  till  that  moment,  nothing  further  to  inform  him  of, 

*  Probably  an  application  for  a  speedy  decision. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  289 

than  to  repeat  her  sentiments  of  high  regard,  esteem  and  gratitude,  with  which  she 
remains  for  ever, 

"  His  lordship's  most  sincere  friend, — C.  P." 

(  The  Princess  of  Wales  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"Blackheath,  Nov.  16th,  IS06. 

"The  Princess  of  Wales  makes  her  apology  to  Lord  Eldon  for  her  unfortunate 
mistake.  The  letter  which  was  intended  for  his  lordship  is  gone  to  Altona  to  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick.  The  contents  of  the  letter  consisted  in  desiring  his  lordship  to 
agree  to  the  request  of  the  princess  to  discharge  the  three  traducers  and  slanderers  of 
her  honour  from  her  household,  of  which  some  are  even  yet  under  the  princess's  own 
roof  at  this  present  moment.  The  princess,  by  not  having  yet  discharged  them,  is 
liable  to  receive  great  affronts  from  them,  which  Mr.  Bidgood*  has  tried  in  all  means 
by  hurting  the  princess's  feelings.  The  pew  at  church,  which  is  only  appropriated 
for  the  princess's  servants,  is  close  to  her  own  at  Greenwich,  where  she  constantly 
goes,  if  not  illness  prevents  her.  Mr.  Bidgood  shows  himself  there  every  lime,  ajid 
even  had  not  the  proper  attention  of  appearing  lately  in  mourning,  which  all  the 
servants  of  the  princess  are  accustomed  to  be  as  long  as  their  royal  mistress  is  in 
deep  mourning. 

"The  princess  begs  Lord  Eldon  to  take  all  these  matters  into  consideration.  Mr. 
Perceval,  who  is  also  informed  on  the  same  subject,  is,  perhaps,  more  able  to  explain 
the  whole  circumstance  to  his  lordship  than  the  princess  can.  The  princess  flatters 
herself  that  his  lordship  will  do  her  the  honour  and  pleasure  to  come  on  Tuesday  at 
six  o'clock  to  dinner  to  meet  Sir  William  Scott." 

It  is  obvious,  from  the  idiom  of  these  letters,  that  they  are  not  of 
English  authorship ;  and  there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  they  are 
the  unassisted  compositions  of  the  princess  herself.  Though  they 
disclose  no  new  facts  of  importance,  they  have  a  certain  interest, 
as  reflecting  the  earlier  feelings  of  one  whose  sufferings  and  whose 
faults  came  afterwards  to  engross  so  large  a  space  in  the  eyes  of  the 
British  people.  She  made  another  remonstrance  to  the  king  in  De- 
cember, intimating  that  unless  she  were  relieved  from  further  suspense, 
her  case  must  be  laid  before  the  public.  This  hint,  coupled,  probably, 
with  an  inclination  on  the  king's  part  to  comply  with  her  request,  had 
its  effect  upon  the  ministers ;  and  toward  the  end  of  January,  1807, 
a  message  from  the  king  was  transmitted  to  her  by  Lord  Chancellor 
Erskine,  acquainting  her  that  his  majesty  was  advised  it  was  no  longer 
necessary  for  him  to  decline  receiving  her  into  the  royal  presence. 
The  Prince  of  Wales,  however,  interposed  to  suspend  this  restoration ; 
and  the  princess  then,  by  a  letter  to  the  king,  announced,  that  the 
publication  of  the  proceedings  on  the  inquiry  would  not  be  delayed 
beyond  a  specified  day.  But  before  that  day  arrived,  a  change  took 
place  in  his  majesty's  councils :  the  king,  on  the  advice  of  the  new 
ministers,  re-admitted  her  into  his  presence ;  and  this  direct  recogni- 
tion of  her  innocence  having  superseded  the  necessity  of  an  appeal 
to  general  opinion,  Lord  Eldon  and  Mr.  Perceval,  who  had  always 
felt  that  the  publication  of  matter  so  objectionable  in  its  nature  could 
have  been  justified  only  by  extreme  exigency,  concurred  in  counsel- 
ling its  suppression,  to  the  great  disappointment  of  the  vulgar  appe- 
tite for  scandal,  which  revenged  itself  by  the  imputation  that  their 
advocacy  of  the  princess's  cause  had  been  a  mere  hollow  manoeuvre 
of  party. 

*  One  of  her  upper  servants,  who  had  made  statements  to  her  prejudice  before  the 
commissioners. 
VOL.  i. — 19 


290  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

1807. 

Dismissal  of  the  Whig  ministry:  Letters  from  Lord  Eidon  to  Sir  William  Scott  and 
Dr.  Ridley. — Transfer  of  great  seal  from  Lord  Erskine  to  Lord  Eldon. — Letter  from 
Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire. — Composition  of  the  new  ministry. — Lord  Eldon  charged 
as  the  king's  secret  adviser  in  the  change  of  ministers:  His  refutation  of  that 
charge. — Dissolution  of  Parliament:  king's  speech. 

THE  month  of  March,  1807,  had  scarcely  begun,  when  those  extraor- 
dinary circumstances  arose  which  suddenly  removed  the  Whigs  from 
office,  and  operated  to  continue  their  exclusion  for  almost  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  A  misunderstanding  having  arisen  between  the  king  and 
the  ministers,  with  respect  to  certain  relaxations  in  favour  of  Roman 
Catholic  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  inserted  in  a  bill  which  had 
been  introduced  into  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  5th  of  March,  the 
ministers,  to  quiet  the  uneasiness  of  his  majesty,  offered  to  withdraw 
the  bill  altogether  for  the  present,  without  prejudice  to  their  right  of 
openly  avowing  their  own  opinions,  and  of  thereafter  submitting  to 
him,  from  time  to  time,  for  his  decision,  such  measures  on  this  subject 
as  they  might  think  advisable.  But  the  king  had  now  taken  the 
alarm ;  and  in  order  to  protect  himself  against  the  possible  recurrence 
of  this  difficulty,  he  required  a  written  declaration,  that  ministers 
would  propose  no  further  concessions  to  the  Roman  Catholics.  They 
thought  it  inconsistent  with  their  duty  to  give  such  a  pledge;  and, 
on  their  refusal,  the  king  communicated  to  them,  as  Lord  Howick* 
expressed  it,  "his  intention  to  look  out  for  other  ministers."  That 
intention  his  majesty  forthwith  executed ;  and  the  Tories  were  recalled 
to  the  government,  writh  the  Duke  of  Portland  as  their  nominal  head. 
The  following  letter  gives  some  insight  into  the  movements  which 
attended  the  formation  of  the  new  ministry : — 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.) 

"March  31st,  1807. 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"Let  me  first  mention,  after  saying  how  happy  I  am  by  the  better  accounts  we 
have  of  poor  Bab,fthat  I  left,  as  I  told  you  I  would,  some  time  ago,  an  order  at  Child's, 
to  pay  any  drafts  of  yours  for  money,  not  exceeding  100/.  in  one  year,  that  you  might 
not  have  the  trouble  of  speaking  or  writing  to  me  when  you  had  a  wish  of  making  a 
remittance  to  her.  I  have  no  doubt  they  have  not  forgot  that  order,  but  I  shall  renew 
it  again  to-day,  and  then  you  may  have  the  money  when  you  please. 

"I  am  most  sincerely  hurt  that  Lord  Sidmouth  is  not  among  us.  My  earnest  wish 
and  entreaty  has  been,  that  he  should— and  many  others  have  wished  it — but  it  has 
been  urged  by  some,  that,  at  this  moment,  it  cannot  be;  that  not  an  individual  con- 

*  Mr.  Grey  had  become  Lord  Howick,  his  father  having  been  advanced  to  an 
earldom, 
f  Their  sister  Barbara. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  291 

nected  with  Lord  Melville  would  join  or  support,  if  it  was  so;  that  a  large  part  of 
Mr.  Pitt's  friends  would  secede  ;  that  among  Lord  Grenville's  majority  there  are  per- 
sons not  adverse,  and  likely  enough  to  be  friendly,  who  are  so  desperately  angry  at 
Lord  S.,  that,  with  him  in  administration,  they  would  be  against  it  to  a  man;  that 
Canning  declines  office  if  Lord  S.  was  to  have  office  now,  but  would  not  object  a  few 
months  hence;  and  all  the  Pittites,  who  talk  to  me,  hold  themselves  bound,  by  their 
view  of  past  transactions,  not  to  desert  Canning  in  a  question  between  him  and  Lord 
S.  Note,  the  language  which  those  two  have  held  respecting  each  other  has  done 
infinite  mischief.  And  finally,  to  make  bad  worse,  (with  a  determination  formed,  as 
I  understood,  to  offer  a  continuance  of  their  situations  to  Bragge,  Bond,  &c.  &c.  of 
Addington's  friends,  as  laying  the  foundation  of  their  future  junction  with  himself,) 
about  the  very  moment  that  it  was  formed,  they  sent  resignations  —  a  step  which  has 
had  a  very  bad  effect.  In  short,  it's  a  sickening  scene  that's  passing;  but  I  can  pre- 
sent it  to  you  more  conveniently  in  conversation  than  correspondence.  When  do  you 
return  to  town  1  I  have  written  to  Sir  W.  Wynne.  I  take  the  great  seal  again  to- 
morrow, if  it  pleases  God.  The  1st  of  April  is  an  ominous  day.  It  will  not  be  in  my 
possession  a  month,  if  there  is  not  a  dissolution.  On  my  own  personal  account,  I 
have  no  wish  about  it  —  much  less  than  1  thought  I  should  have  had.  Pray  let  me 
know  when  you  come  to  town,  as  I  shall  be  very  anxious  to  see  you  as  soon  as  you 
do  come.  Give  me,  therefore,  a  little  previous  notice,  that  I  may  be  ready  for  you. 

"Yours  affectionately, 

"  ELD  ox." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ridley.} 

"  March  31st,  1807. 
"  Dear  Ridley, 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  kind  and  affectionate  letter.  The  occurrence  of  again  taking 
the  great  seal,  Harry,  gives  me  but  one  sentiment  of  comfort,  —  that  it  is  possible  I 
may  be  of  use  to  others.  The  death  of  my  friend  Mr.  Pitt,  the  loss  of  my  poor  dear 
John,  the  anguish  of  mind  in  which  I  have  been,  and  ever  must  be,  when  that  loss 
occurs  to  me,  —  these  have  extinguished  all  ambition,  and  almost  every  wish  of  every 
kind  in  my  breast.  I  had  become  inured  to,  and  fond  of,  retirement.  My  mind  had 
been  busied  in  the  contemplation  of  my  best  interests,  —  those  which  are  connected 
•with  nothing  here. 

******* 

"To  me,  therefore,  the  change  is  no  joy:  I  write  that  from  my  heart.  But  I  cannot 
disobey  my  old  and  gracious  master,  struggling  for  the  established  religion  of  my 
country;  and  I  hope  all  good  men  will  join  in  our  efforts,  and  pray  for  the  peace  of 
Jerusalem.  But  all  good  men  must  join  in  his  support,  or  he  and  our  establishments 
will  fall  together. 

"Pray,  give  the  love  of  us  all  to  Fanny  and  my  niece,  and  believe  me, 

"Faithfully  yours, 


"I  am  to  receive  the  great  seal  to-morrow.  Whether  party  will  allow  me  to  keep 
it  a  fortnight,  I  know  not.  On  my  own  account  I  care  not." 

******* 

It  appears  from  these  letters,  that  the  1st  of  April  was  the  day 
fixed  for  the  re-transfer  of  the  great  seal  to  Lord  Eldon.  Lord 
Howick  had  stated  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  26th  of  March, 
that  the  preceding  day,  the  25lh,  was  that  on  which  the  ministers  in 
general  had  delivered  up  the  seals  of  office.  The  reason  why  the 
great  seal  was  not  given  back  to  the  king  at  the  same  time  with  Ihe 
other  seals,  was,  that  there  were  some  cases  heard  by  Lord  Erskine 
in  chancery,  on  which  it  was  thought  desirable  that  he  should  com- 
plete and  deliver  his  judgment  ;  and,  in  order  that  he  might  be  able 
to  do  this  in  regular  form,  and  with  binding  effect,  he  was  requested 
by  the  king  to  retain  the  great  seal  till  the  end  of  the  month. 

The  writer  of  this  memoir  has  heard  Lord  Erskine  relate,  with  his 
characteristic  spirit  and  pleasantry,  the  circumstances  of  the  surrender 


292  LIFE  OF  LORD 

by  his  colleagues  on  the  25th  of  March.  "I  was  last,"  said  he. 
"  When  I  received  the  king's  command  to  retain  the  seals  a  few  days 
longer,  the  others  had  left  the  presence,  and  were  waiting  in  an  ante- 
chamber for  their  carriages,  and  when  I  walked  out  among  them  with 
the  seals  still  in  my  hand,  you  can't  imagine  the  astonishment  that 
showed  itself  in  their  faces,  to  see  me  come  forth  unhurt,  like  Daniel 
from  the  lion's  den!" 

Lord  Erskine  completed  his  duties  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  on  the 
1st  of  April;  and  on  the  same  day  the  great  seal  was  delivered  to 
Lord  Eldon,  who  took  his  seat  that  afternoon  on  the  woolsack. 

There  are  but  few  materials  for  estimating  the  judicial  merits  of 
Lord  Erskine.  In  truth,  his  celebrity  does  not  so  naturally  connect 
itself  with  the  equity  bench  as  with  the  common  law  bar.  When  he 
came  to  the  Court  of  Chancery,  he  had  not  been  very  conversant  with 
those  particular  departments  of  jurisprudence  through  which  the 
science  of  equity  is  most  easily  approached ;  and  he  remained  not 
Jong  enough  in  that  court  to  become  familiar  with  all  its  principles. 
His  decisions,  therefore,  are,  perhaps,  of  less  authority  than  those  of 
some  judges,  much  his  inferiors  both  in  strength  of  understanding  and 
in  reach  of  thought,  but  more  versed  in  the  doctrine  and  practice  of 
equitable  jurisprudence.  His  fame,  however,  may  well  afford  to  waive 
any  claim  upon  the  short  annals  of  his  chancellorship.  For  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  he  had  been  the  foremost  advocate  in  those 
courts  which  hold  supreme  jurisdiction  of  liberty  and  life ;  and  the 
record  which  his  corrected  speeches  have  preserved  of  him,  such  as 
then  he  was,  will  best  enable  his  successors  and  his  country  to  appre- 
ciate, however  hopeless  it  may  be  to  equal,  his  earnest  and  brilliant 
eloquence,  his  logical  reasoning,  his  exquisite  tact,  his  instinctive 
quickness,  his  attaching  courtesy,  and  his  indomitable  courage. 

(  Lord  Eldon  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  Swire,  D.  D.) 

(Not  dated;  but  endorsed,  April  3d,  1807.) 
;<  My  dear  Swire, 

"  Whilst  dreaming  of  a  visit  to  you,  I  have  awaked  with  the  great  seal  in  my  hand, 
to  my  utter  astonishment.  But  this  attack  upon  the  establishment  has  brought  for- 
ward on  the  part  of  the  king,  governed  by  his  own  determinations  and  without  any 
assurance  of  support,  a  firmness  which,!  confess,  astonishes  me.  The  world  should 
not  have  induced  me  to  take  the  seal  again,  if  his  commands  had  been  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  leave  me  any  choice;  or  the  circumstances,  which  must  inevitably  lead 
to  difficulties  in  Parliament,  probably  insuperable,  and  appeals  to  the  people,  perhaps 
without  sufficient  effect,  had  not  shamed  me  into  decision,  that  this  great  and  excellent 
man,  for  great  as  well  as  excellent  he  has  now  shown,  himself,  shall  not  want  the  aid 
of  every  effort  I  can  exert. 

"  He  considers  the  struggle  as  for  his  throne ;  and  he  told  me  but  yesterday,  when 
I  took  the  seal,  that  he  did  so  consider  it;  that  he  must  be  the  Protestant  king  of  a 
Protestant  country,  or  no  king.  He  is  remarkably  well— firm  as  a  lion — placid  and 
quiet,  beyond  example  in  any  moment  of  his  life.  I  am  happy  to  add  that,  on  this 
occasion,  his  son,  the  prince,  has  appeared  to  behave  very  dutifully  to  him.  Two  or 
three  great  goods  have  been  accomplished  if  his  new  ministers  can  stand  their  ground. 
First,  the  old  ones  are  satisfied  that  the  king,  whose  state  of  mind  they  were  always 
doubting,  has  more  sense  and  understanding  than  all  his  ministers  put  together:  they 
leave  him  with  a  full  conviction  of  that  fact.  Secondly,  the  nation  has  seen  the 
inefficiency  of  '  all  the  talents,' and  may,  perhaps,  therefore,  not  injure  us  much  by 
comparison.  When  he  delivered  the  seal  to  me  yesterday,  he  told  me  he  wished  and 
hoped  I  should  keep  it  till  he  died.  If  we  get  over  a  few  months  we  may  support 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  293 

him.    Lady  Eldon,  who  is  sadly  hurt  at  this  relapse  into  business,  sends  affectionate 
regards,  \vith  myself,  to  you,  Mrs.  Swire,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hobson.    Fanny's  love. 

"  Ever  yours  (in  haste)  affectionately, 

"  ELDOJT  ." 

The  new  administrafion,  when  complete  in  the  month  of  April, 
stood  as  follows : — the  Duke  of  Portland  became  successor  to  Lord 
Grenville,  as  first  lord  of  the  treasury ;  Lord  Eldon  to  Lord  Erskine, 
as  lord  chancellor;  Earl  Camden  to  Viscount  Sidmouth,  as  president 
of  the  council ;  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland  to  Lord  Holland,  as  privy 
seal ;  Lord  Mulgrave  to  Mr.  T.  Grenville,  as  first  lord  of  the  admi- 
ralty ;  the  Earl  of  Chatham  to  the  Earl  of  Moira,  as  master-general  of 
the  ordnance ;  Lord  Hawkesbury  to  Earl  Spencer,  as  home  secretary  of 
state  ;  Mr.  Canning  to  Lord  Howick,  as  foreign  secretary ;  and  Lord 
Castlereagh  to  Windham,  as  secretary  for  war  and  colonies :  Mr.  Per- 
ceval, who  became  chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in  the  room  of  Lord 
Henry  Petty,  wras  invested  with  the  leadership  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons ;  Earl  Bathurst  had  a  seat  in  the  cabinet  as  president  of  the 
board  of  trade ;  Mr.  Huskisson  became  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the 
treasury ;  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  then  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley, 
made  his  entrance  into  political  life  as  chief  secretary  for  Ireland. 

The  Whigs,  who  possessed  a  strong  force  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  had  still  a  considerable  influence  with  a  large  constitutional  body 
of  the  country,  were  by  no  means  disposed  to  yield  without  a  rally. 
It  was  determined,  therefore,  that  the  state  of  parties  should  be  brought 
to  the  test  by  Mr.  Brande  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  by  the  Mar- 
quis of  Stafford  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Mr.  Brande's  motion,  which 
was  brought  forward  on  the  9th  of  April,  propounded  a  resolution, 
asserting  it  to  be  a  breach  of  duty  in  a  British  ministry  to  pledge  them- 
selves, either  expressly  or  by  implication,  against  offering  such  advice 
to  the  crown  as  the  course  of  circumstances  might  render  necessary. 
The  seconder  was  Lord  Melbourne,  then  the  Honourable  William 
Lamb.  He  had  moved  the  address  at  the  opening  of  the  preceding 
session,  and  already  gave  large  earnest  of  the  qualities  which  after- 
wards placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  Whig  administrations  of  King 
William  IV.  and  of  Queen  Victoria.  Mr.  Brande's  motion  was  met 
by  an  amendment  for  proceeding  to  the  other  orders  of  the  day;  which 
amendment,  however,  was  carried  only  by  a  majority  of  258  against 
226.  In  the  course  of  the  debate,  Lord  Howick  had  been  pleased  to 
say, 

"Agreeing  with  his  hon.  friends,  that  there  could  constitutionally  be  no  act  of  the 
crown  without  a  responsible  adviser,  he  also  concurred  in  the  opinion  that  there  had, 
on  the  recent  occasion,  been  secret  advisers,  and  much  pains  taken  to  poison  the  royal 
mind.  Indeed,  he  did  happen  to  know  that  advice  had  been  given  ;  and  this  was  a 
time  in  which  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  speak  out  plainly.  On  the  Saturday  before 
the  pledge  was  required,  Lord  Eldon  had  an  audience  of  his  majesty.  What  passed 
at  that  interview,  he  did  not  pretend  to  state;  that  he  would  leave  the  House  to  con- 
jecture. He  must  also  observe,  that  before  he  had  liberty  to  state  that  a  new  adminis- 
tration was  forming,  Lord  Eldon  and  Lord  Hawkesbury  had  been  sent  for  to  Windsor. 
Lord  Eldon  and  Lord  Hawkesbury  were  then  the  responsible  persons."* 

This  speech  was  answered  by  Mr.  Secretary  Canning,  whose  defence 
*  9  Parl.  Deb.  339. 


294  LIFE  OF  LORD 

of  Lord  Eldon  undoubtedly  evinced  no  want  of  cordiality  to  his  col- 
league.    He  said : — 

"The  noble  lord  has  chosen  to  insinuate  that  the  king  had  in  fact  some  secret  ad- 
viser, and  that  the  communication  between  his  majesty  and  those  who  are  now  in  his 
councils,  began  much  earlier  than  we  are  willing  to  avow  ;  and  he  instances  Lord 
Eldon's  visit  to  Windsor  (I  think  on  the  Saturday  se'nnight  preceding  the  change) 
as  a  proof  of  this  secret  communication.  I  would  not  accuse  the  noble  lord  of  wilful 
misrepresentation;  but  I  must,  ask  him  plainly,  in  the  face  of  the  House,  does  he  not 
know  what  was  the  cause  of  Lord  Eldon's  visit  to  Windsor?  Does  he,  or  does  he 
not  know,  that  previous  to  his  going  to  Windsor,  Lord  Eldon  waited  on  Lord  Gren- 
ville,  and  communicated  to  him  distinctly  the  subject  of  his  intended  interview  with 
the  king,  adding,  at  the  same  time,  a  solemn  assurance  that  he  would  mention  no 
other  subject  to  his  majesty?  The  noble  lord  may  insinuate  that  Lord  Eldon  did  not 
keep  his  word.  I  believe  he  did  ;  and  at  least  I  may  safely  leave  it  to  the  House  to 
determine  whether  the  conduct  of  Lord  Eldon,  such  as  I  have  described  it,  affords 
fair  grounds  for  a  presumption  of  insincerity  and  falsehood  ?  And  I  will  add,  sir, 
that  nothing  but  the  extreme  delicacy  of  the  subject  itself, — upon  which  alone  Lord 
Eldon  went,  and  upon  which  the  noble  lord  must  know  he  went,  to  communicate  with 
his  majesty, — prevents  me  from  satisfying  the  House,  by  a  distinct  disclosure  of  it, 
how  very  far  removed  it  was  from  any  thing  of  a  political  nature." 

Sir  Samuel  Romilly  in  his  Diary*  reports  Lord  Grey  to  have  told 
him,  that  in  the  spring  of  1813,  the  chancellor,  speaking  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Princess  of  Wales  to  Lord  Grey,  who  was  sitting  by  him 
on  the  woolsack  in  the  House  of  Lords,  said,  "  I  do  assure  you, — you 
may  believe  it  or  not  as  you  think  proper, — but  I  do  assure  you,  that 
when  I  had  the  conference  with  the  king,  in  1807,  which  I  requested, 
it  was  solely  for  the  purpose  of  representing  to  him  what  mischief 
might  follow,  if  Perceval  was  not  prevented  from  publishing  the  book 
which  he  was  then  bent  on  publishing." 

Lord  Eldon's  Anecdote  Book  bears  the  following  testimony  to  the 
laudable  reserve  which  the  king  maintained  on  the  subject  of  the  in- 
tended change,  until  he  had  signified  his  resolution  to  the  then  minis- 
ters! themselves : — 

"  In  order  to  disarm  political  jealousy  I  communicated  to  Lord 
Grenville,  then  minister,  that  I  was  going  to  Windsor,  and  the  nature 
of  the  business  which  led  to  my  visiting  his  majesty.  It  happened, 
unfortunately,  about  this  time,  that  the  administration  meditated  a  bill 
in  Parliament  which  was  favourable  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  that 
there  was  that  misunderstanding  in  consequence  of  it  which  led  to 
the  king's  dismissing  his  administration  in  1807.  When  that  event 
happened,  which  it  did  shortly  after  I  had  been  at  Windsor,  many  of 
the  adherents  of  that  administration  most  virulently  abused  me,  insinu- 
ating that  I  had,  when  at  Windsor,  advised  his  majesty  to  change  his 
ministers;  and  some  even  expressed  an  hope,  that  on  some  future  day 
when  another  change  might  take  place,  I  should  be  impeached.  The 
fact  and  the  truth  is,  that,  notwithstanding  what  was  then  passing 
between  the  king  and  his  ministers,  I  was  entirely  ignorant  of  it  before 
I  went:  I  heard  not  a  syllable  respecting  it  whilst  I  was  with  the  king ; 
nor  had  I  any  information  respecting  it  till  I  was  afterwards  com- 
manded to  attend  his  majesty  with  Lord  Liverpool,  when  he  was 

*  "Memoirs,"  vol.  iii.  p.  104. 

f  See  the  Duke  of  Portland's  letter  to  Lord  Eldon,  November  24th,  1806. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  295 

pleased  to  inform  us  that  he  had  changed  his  administration,  and  stated 
to  us  the  reasons  upon  which  he  had  acted ;  and  I  well  remember  his 
saying,  that  to  me  it  must  be  matter  of  great  surprise,  having  seen 
me  so  lately,  and  not  a  word  having  then  passed  respecting  it ;  which 
was  the  fact." 

The  Marquis  of  Stafford's  motion,  made  in  the  House  of  Lords,  on 
the  13th  of  the  same  April,  differed  from  Mr.  Brande's  in  this  par- 
ticular, that  it  prefaced  its  denunciation  of  restrictive  pledges  by  an 
expression  of  the  "  deepest  regret  at  the  change  which  had  lately  taken 
place  in  his  majesty's  councils," — "  a  regret  greatly  increased  by  the 
causes  to  which  the  change  had  been  ascribed."  In  the  course  of 
the  debate,  a  good  deal  was  said  about  the  responsibility  of  those 
who  had  either  advised  the  king  beforehand  to  dismiss  his  late  minis- 
ters, or  subsequently  adopted  that  dismissal  by  taking  their  places. 

The  lord  chancellor  (who  spoke  last  but  one)  insisted  that  the  discussion  had  been 
wholly  new,  irregular  and  unparliamentary.  The  insinuations,  personally  thrown 
out  against  himself,  of  having  secretly  advised  his  majesty  to  dismiss  his  late  minis- 
ters, he  should  treat  only  with  the  contempt  they  deserved.  He  had  slated  to  Lord 
Grenville  the  circumstances  of  the  audience  which  he  had  had  of  his  majesty,  and  that 
noble  lord,  he  trusted,  was  perfectly  satisfied  of  his  sincerity.  His  return  to  office  had 
been  accompanied  with  no  pledge,  except  the  uniform  tenourof  his  public  life;  and  no 
other  had  been  asked  by  his  majesty. 

The  House  divided,  not  upon  the  original  motion,  but  upon  a  motion 
made  by  Lord  Boringdon  (at  that  time  a  supporter  of  ministers)  for  an 
adjournment  of  the  House,  which  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  171 
against  90. 

Before  the  expiration  of  the  month,  Lord  Eldon,  in  pursuance  of  a 
contract  of  purchase  made  in  the  preceding  October  with  Mr.  William 
Morton  Pitt,  became  the  possessor  of  the  Encombe  estate,  in  Dorset- 
shire, from  which  he  afterwards  took  his  title  as  Viscount.  The 
property,  comprising  the  manor  and_  mansion  of  Encombe  and  about 
2000  acres  of  land,  was  conveyed  to  him  on  the  25th  of  April,  1807, 
and  the  amount  of  the  purchase-money  was  between  52,OOOZ.  and 
53,000^.  This  estate  lies  on  the  sea-shore,  at  the  south-eastern  ex- 
tremity of  the  county,  in  the  district  commonly  called  the  Isle  of 
Purbeck,  which,  however,  is  in  reality  only  a  peninsula.* 

"Encombe  is  situated  in  a  very  deep  vale,  that  opens  to  the  British  Channel  on  the 
south,  and  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  south-west  from  Kingston.  It  seems  to  take  its 
name  from  its  situation  on  the  extremity  of  this  part  of  the  island,  quasi,  End  Comb, 
or  from  its  situation  in  a  comb  or  vale,  g.  d.  In  Comb.  It  is  one  of  the  best  farms  in 
the  island,  consisting  of  arable  and  pasture  for  sheep.  The  hilly  part,  as  well  as  the 
vale,  yields  a  greater  plenty  of  grass  and  more  beautiful  verdure  than  is  usually  seen 
in  the  island;  and,  from  its  fertility,  has  been  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the 
Golden  Bowl.  It  does  not  occur  in  Domesday  Book,  being  probably  surveyed  in 
Kingston,  of  which  it  is  a  member."f 

According  to  Hutchins,  Encombe,  which  had  for  nearly  two  centu- 
ries been  the  residence  of  the  Culliford  family,  was  purchased,  about 
the  year  1734,  by  Mrs.  Lora  Pitt,  who  then  gave  it  to  her  second  son, 
John  Pitt,  Esq.  He  soon  pulled  down  the  house,  which  was  much 

•  Hutchins's  "History  of  Dorset,"  (1796,)  vol.  i.  p.  274. 
f  Id.  vol.  i.  p.  292. 


296  LIFE  OF  LOUD 

in  decay,  and  on  the  same  site  erected  the  present  mansion,  of  Purbeck 
stone.  The  succeeding  particulars  are  from  the  present  earl: 

"  It  is  curious  that,  in  this  purchase,  was  included  a  portion  of  high 
ground  already  bearing  the  name  of  its  new  possessor's  title,  and 
called,  long  before  that  title  was  created,  by  the  designation  of  Eldori 
Hill. 

"I  have  often  been  asked  how  Lord  Eldon  happened  to  purchase 
an  estate  and  residence  at  a  place  which  he  was  so  little  likely  to 
have  seen  or  heard  of.  It  had  been  named  to  him  by  Mr.  Farrer, 
(father  of  J.  W.  Farrer,  Esq.,  of  Ingleborough,)  with  whom  Lord 
Eldon  was  early  intimate,  and  to  whose  health  its  climate  had  proved 
highly  beneficial,  when  he  had  been  there  in  the  time  of  Mr.  Morton 
Pitt's  possessing  it.  Lord  Eldon  used  to  tell  me  that  its  size  and 
character  suited  well  what  he  wanted,  on  ceasing  to  hold  the  great 
seal  after  his  first  chancellorship." 

"  I  have  heard  my  grandfather  and  grandmother  say  that,  when 
they  came  to  see  Encombe  for  the  first  time,  they  thought,  as  they 
passed  over  some  of  the  dreary  and  hilly  roads  which  led  to  it,  they 
had  acted  upon  a  very  unwise  recommendation  in  travelling  thither; 
but  that  when  the  fine  sea  view,  which  presents  itself  at  the  entrance 
of  the  valley,  burst  upon  them,  they  ceased  to  entertain  that  opinion. 
This  point  of  the  quarry  wood  is,  perhaps,  the  most  striking  feature  of 
Encombe.  The  chancellor  would  quote  at  this  spot:  — 

'  in  reducta  valle  mugientium 

Prospectat  errantes  greges.'* 

"  The  farm  of  Renscombe,  which  included  the  promontory  called 
St.  Aldhelm's,  or  more  commonly  St.  Alban's,  Head,  was  not  added 
to  .the  Encombe  estate,  of  which  it  now  forms  a  part,  until  about 
•1811.  On  the  headland  stands  an  ancient  chapel,  built  and  vaulted 
with  stone.  It  is  dedicated  to  St  *Aldhelm,  first  Bishop  of  Sherborne, 
and  appears  to  have  been  a  chantry,  wherein  masses  were  said  for 
mariners  wrecked  on  that  dangerous  shore.  The  cliff,  at  this  place, 
is  said  to  rise  440  feet  perpendicular  from  the  sea.  In  January,  1811, 
when  Renscombe  farm  was  for  sale,  Lord  Eldon  offered  a  price  which 
the  vendor  declined :  it  was  then  advertised  as  a  charming  residence 
near  the  sea :  and  this  notice  of  it  shortly  caught  the  eye  of  Mr.  Jen- 
kins, a  respectable  and  well-known  London  dancing-master  of  that 
time.  He  bought  it  at  once,  without  ever  seeing  it ;  but  when  he 
and  his  family  came  in  a  postchaise  to  visit  their  new  acquisition  early 
in  the  summer,  they  found  the  place  inaccessible  to  any  such  vehicle, 
save  at  the  risk  of  their  necks ;  and  they  were  but  too  happy  in  being 
able  to  hand  over  to  Lord  Eldon  their  singularly  unsuitable  posses- 
sion ;  which,  however,  they  only  did  on  receiving  from  him  a  larger 
sum  than  their  purchase  had  cost  them.  So  bleak  is  this  farm,  that 
stone  walls,  instead  of  hedge-rows,  form  its  fences  throughout.  On 
its  whole  extent  there  are  but  some  half  dozen  trees,  and  these  few 
exist  but  by  the  shelter  of  a  neighbouring  plantation.  Lord  Eldon 

*  Horace;  Epod.  ii.  lines  13,  14. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  297 

used  to  say  that  the  clause,  which  the  lease  of  this  farm  contained,  in 
common  with  his  other  leases,  restraining  his  tenant  from  cutting  tim- 
ber, was  in  this  case  a  very  superfluous  precaution." 

The  dissolution  of  Parliament,  which  Lord  Eldon,  in  his  letter  to 
his  brother,  of  the  31st  of  March,  had  stated  to  be  indispensable  for 
the  stability  of  the  new  government,  was  speedily  resolved  on  by  the 
ministers ;  for  which  purpose,  on  the  27th  of  April,  the  session  was 
closed  by  commission. 

The  royal  speech,  delivered  on  this  occasion  by  the  lord  chancellor 
in  his  majesty's  name,  put  the  dissolution,  most  distinctly,  on  the 
ground  of  the  attempt  made  by  the  Whigs  in  behalf  of  the  Roman 
Catholics.  The  language  of  the  speech  was  this :  — 

"His  majesty  is  anxious  to  recur  to  the  sense  of  his  people,  while  the  events  which 
have  recently  taken  place  are  yet  fresh  in  their  recollection.  His  majesty  feels  that  in 
resorting  to  this  measure,  under  the  present  circumstances,  he  at  once  demonstrates,  in 
the  most  unequivocal  manner,  his  own  conscientious  persuasion  of  the  rectitude  of 
those  motives  upon  which  he  has  acted,  and  affords  to  his  people  the  best  opportu- 
nity of  testifying  their  determination  to  support  him  in  every  exercise  of  the  preroga- 
tives of  his  crown,  which  is  conformable  to  the  sacred  obligations  under  which  they 
are  held,  and  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  his  kingdom,  and  to  the  security  of  the  con- 
stitution. His  majesty  directs  us  to  express  his  entire  conviction,  that  after  so  long 
a  reign,  marked  by  a  series  of  indulgences  to  his  Roman  Catholic  subjects,  they,  in 
common  with  every  other  class  of  his  people,  must  feel  assured  of  his  attachment  to 
the  principles  of  a  just  and  enlightened  toleration,  and  of  his  anxious  desire  to  pro- 
tect equally,  and  promote  impartially,  the  happiness  of  all  descriptions  of  his  sub- 
jects. 

"  My  lords  and  gentlemen,  his  majesty  has  directed  us  most  earnestly  to  recom- 
mend to  you  that  you  should  cultivate,  by  all  means  in  your  power,  a  spirit  of  union, 
harmony  and  good  will,  amongst  all  classes  and  descriptions  of  his  people.  His 
majesty  trusts  that  the  divisions  naturally  and  unavoidably  excited  by  the  late  unfortu- 
nate and  uncalled-for  agitation  of  a  question  so  interesting  to  the  feelings  and  opin- 
ions of  his  people,  will  speedily  pass  away;  and  that  the  prevailing  sense  and  deter- 
mination of  all  his  subjects  to  exert  their  united  efforts  in  the  cause  of  their  country 
will  enable  his  majesty  to  conduct,  to  an  honourable  and  secure  termination,  the 
great  contest  in  which  he  is  engaged." 


298  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

1807. 

King's  speech  on  the  opening  of  the  new  Parliament. — Debates  on  the  dissolution: 
responsibility  of  new  ministers  for  the  dismissal  of  their  predecessors. — National 
education. — Letter  from  Lord  Eldon  to  Mr.  Farreron  a  course  of  study  for  the  bar. 
— Appointment  of  accountant-general. 

THE  new  parliament  was  convoked  without  delay ;  and  on  26th  of 
June,  the  session  was  opened,  by  commission,  in  a  speech  delivered 
by  the  lord  chancellor  and  beginning  in  these  words :  — 

"  We  have  it  in  command  from  his  majesty  to  state  to  you,  that  having  deemed  it 
expedient  to  recur  to  the  sense  of  his  people,  his  majesty,  in  conformity  to  his  declared 
intention,  has  lost  no  time  in  causing  the  present  parliament  to  be  assembled.  His 
majesty  has  great  satisfaction  in  acquainting  you,  that,  since  the  events  which  led  to 
the  dissolution  of  the  last  parliament,  his  majesty  has  received,  in  numerous  ad- 
dresses from  his  subjects,  the  warmest  assurances  of  their  affectionate  attachment  to 
his  person  and  government  and  of  their  firm  resolution  to  support  him  in  maintain- 
ing the  just  rights  of  his  crown  and  the  true  principles  of  the  constitution;  and  he 
commands  us  to  express  his  entire  confidence  that  he  shall  experience,  in  all  your 
deliberations,  a  determination  to  afford  him  an  equally  loyal,  zealous  and  affectionate 
support,  under  all  the  arduous  circumstances  of  the  present  time." 

The  Earl  of  Mansfield  having  moved  an  address  adopting  the  lan- 
guage of  the  speech, 

An  amendment  was  proposed  by  Earl  Fortescue,  complaining  of  "the  manifest 
misconduct  of  ministers,  in  having  advised  the  dissolution  of  the  late  parliament,  in 
its  first  session,  and  within  a  few  months  after  it  had  been  assembled."  The  amend- 
ment proceeded  to  deplore  several  of  the  results  of  the  dissolution,  and  then  sub- 
mitted, that  all  these  mischiefs  were  "greatly  aggravated  by  the  groundless  and 
injurious  pretences  on  which  his  majesty's  ministers  have  publicly  rested  their  evil 
advices, — pretences  affording  no  justification  for  the  measure,  but  calculated  only  to 
excite  the  most  dangerous  animosities  among  his  majesty's  faithful  subjects,  at  a 
period  when  their  united  efforts  were  more  than  ever  necessary  for  the  security  of 
the  empire,  and  when  to  promote  the  utmost  harmony  and  co-operation  amongst  them, 
would  have  been  the  first  object  of  faithful  and  provident  ministers." 

The  lord  chancellor,  who  rose  after  a  speech  from  Lord  Grenville, 
observed, 

That  whereas,  the  communication  from  the  throne  implied  no  censure  on  the  late 
ministry,  the  amendment  went  to  stigmatize,  in  strong  terms,  the  ministry  now  in 
office.  The  late  ministry  had  resorted  to  a  dissolution  without  assigning  any  reason 
in  vindication  of  it;  although  in  that  case  some  special  ground  was  the  more  requi- 
site, because  that  dissolution  took  place  after  a  proclamation  had  actually  gone  forth, 
requiring  Parliament  to  meet,  on  a  particular  day,  "  for  the  dispatch  of  business."— 
With  respect  to  this  last  appeal  to  the  people,  he  only  asked  of  the  noble  baron  to 
treat  it  as  he  had  treated  the  like  measure  in  1784,  on  Mr.  Pitt's  return  to  the  govern- 
ment. 

It  seemed  to  have  been  presumed,  that  because  the  present  ministers  had  accepted 
office,  they  must  have  advised  the  dismissal  of  their  predecessors.  If  that  conclu- 
sion had  been  a  legitimate  one,  no  doubt  the  present  ministers  were  responsible  for 
the  entire  change ;  but  it  was  a  conclusion  which  he  could  not  admit. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  299 

The  original  address  was  carried  by  a  large  majority. 

In  1835,  when  King  William's  dismissal  of  his  Whig  ministers  was 
made  the  subject  of  attack  upon  their  successors,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  as 
the  head  of  the  new  administration,  declared,  that  though  he  had  not 
at  all  partaken  in  advising  that  dismissal,  (having,  indeed,  been  at  a 
great  distance  from  England  when  it  was  projected  and  executed,) 
yet  he  did  conceive  himself,  by  accepting  office,  to  have  become 
responsible  for  the  king's  act ;  and  he  added  that  he  was  willing  and 
prepared  to  meet  that  responsibility.  Perhaps,  however,  there  will 
be  found  no  real  discrepancy  between  Sir  Robert  Peel's  and  Lord 
Eldon's  views  of  an  in-coming  ministry's  constitutional  responsibility 
for  the  dismissal  of  their  predecessors.  The  chancellor  does  not  go 
the  length  of  affirming  that  this  responsibility  can  attach  upon  the 
new  government  only  when  the  dismissal  has  been  actually  advised 
by  themselves :  and,  indeed,  it  is  by  no  means  difficult  to  conceive 
cases,  where,  without  any  participation  in,  or  even  privity  to,  the 
king's  dismissal  of  the  preceding  ministers,  the  new  administration 
might  couple  its  acceptance  of  office  with  such  farther  steps  (for  in- 
stance, penal  or  vindictive  proceedings  against  the  discarded  par- 
ties) as  would  amount,  by  relation  backwards,  to  a  clear  adoption  of 
the  king's  uncounselled  act.  On  the  other  hand,  Sir  Robert  Peel 
does  not  seem  to  have  intended  it  as  a  universal  proposition,  that  the 
acceptance  of  office  has  relation  back  to  all  acts  done  by  the  sove- 
reign in  and  consequent  upon  his  dismissal  of  his  last  servants ;  for 
such  a  doctrine,  should  it  prevail,  would  deter  the  best  and  wisest 
men  from  lending  their  aid  to  the  crown,  in  the  very  circumstances 
where  such  aid  would  be  the  most  urgently  needed, — that  is,  where 
the  sovereign,  by  some  false  step,  taken  without  any  recognized 
adviser,  might  have  brought  his  crown  and  his  people  into  an  em- 
barrassment reparable  only  by  ready  and  judicious  counsellors  in- 
vested with  regular  official  powers.  It,  therefore,  seems  most  reason- 
able to  conclude,  that  both  the  chancellor  and  Sir  Robert  Peel  spoke, 
not  with  any  view  of  laying  down  abstract  universal  propositions, 
but  simply  with  reference  to  the  particular  changes  of  administration 
which  each  respectively  was  discussing.  The  truth  may  be  probably 
this,  that  the  chancellor's  disclaimer  was  founded  on  a  generous 
reluctance  to  take  from  the  king,  under  the  name  of  ministerial  re- 
sponsibility, the  popular  credit  which  attached  to  the  expulsion  of 
the  Whigs  in  1807  ;  and  that  Sir  Robert  Peel,  in  no  less  manly  a 
spirit,  adopted  the  converse  of  the  same  course  at  the  beginning  of 
1835,  when,  perceiving  some  sort  of  dissatisfaction  to  be  connected 
with  the  dismissal  of  the  Melbourne  ministry,  or  at  least  with  the 
unusual  and  abrupt  manner  of  it,  he,  in  order  to  relieve  the  sovereign 
from  all  shadow  of  imputation,  took  the  whole  responsibility  upon 
himself. 

An  act  for  the  regulation  of  trade  with  America  had  expired  be- 
tween the  dissolution  of  the  old  and  the  meeting  of  the  new  parlia- 
ment. A  bill  for  continuing  it  could  not  have  been  passed  without 
a  delay  of  the  dissolution ;  and  the  new  ministry  therefore  had  taken 


300  LIFE  OF  LORD 

upon  themselves  to  keep  its  provisions  in  force  by  an  order  in  coun- 
cil, for  which  exercise  of  authority  beyond  the  law,  they  now  applied 
to  Parliament  to  give  them  an  indemnity.  Earl  Bathurst  having,  on 
the  13th  of  July,  moved  the  second  reading  of  a  bill  framed  for  this 
purpose, 

Lord  Grenville  took  occasion  to  renew  his  censure  upon  that  dissolution,  out  of 
which  the  necessity  for  an  indemnity  bill  arose,  and  entered  somewhat  at  large  into 
the  question  of  the  policy  avowed  by  the  new  administration  with  respect  to  the 
claims  of  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics. 

Lord  Hawkesbury,  who  answered  this  speech,  was  followed  by 
Earl  Spencer  and  Lord  Erskine ;  and  the  lord  chancellor  then  ad- 
dressed the  House  in  vindication  of  the  conduct  of  ministers. 

He  said  that  the  question  under  consideration  was,  not  the  fitness  of  the  dissolu- 
tion, but  the  fitness  of  the  order  in  council;  and  if  the  fitness  of  the  order  in  council 
were  established,  the  government  which  had  passed  it  was  justly  entitled  to  an  in- 
demnity, whether  the  dissolution  had  been  fitting  or  not.  He  did  not  shrink,  however, 
from  a  discussion  of  their  conduct  in  the  matter  of  the  dissolution.  Lord  Erskine  had 
condemned  it  as  an  unconstitutional  act,  done  simply  "to  accommodate  a  change  in 
administration."  That  it  was  not  an  act  done  unconformably  to  precedent,  would 
appear  by  a  reference  to  the  dissolution  which  had  taken  place  under  the  late  admi- 
nistration in  the  very  last  year.  At  the  moment  when  that  dissolution  was  resolved 
on,  no  circumstances  had  occurred  to  embarrass  the  ministers, — no  vote  had  passed 
in  either  House  to  indicate  a  wish  of  impeding  them.  However,  he  rested  his  own. 
opinion  of  the  necessity  for  the  dissolution  which  had  just  now  taken  place,  not  on 
the  precedent  of  the  last  year,  but  on  that  course  which,  without  any  precedent  at  all, 
the  late  administration  had  adopted,  in  making  his  majesty's  conduct,  respecting  the 
Roman  Catholics,  a  subject  of  inquiry  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament.  That  inquiry 
he  considered  as  the  most  unconstitutional  proceeding  in  which  their  lordships  had 
ever  been  engaged;  and  nothing  could  be  fitter  than  to  submit  the  whole  matter  to 
the  sense  of  the  country,  while  the  circumstances  were  fresh  in  the  recollection  of 
the  people.  He  had  no  hesitation  in  avowing,  that  with  a  view  to  render  the  new 
administration  as  firm  and  as  vigorous  as  possible,  he  had  been  a  strenuous  ad- 
viser, probably  one  of  the  most  strenuous  advisers,  of  this  measure  of  dissolution. — 
He  looked  to  the  Protestant  people,  whose  regard  and  veneration,  once  lost  to  the 
government,  would  at  best  be  but  imperfectly  replaced  by  the  conciliation  of  the 
Roman  Catholics.  But  such  a  conciliation  was  not,  in  his  opinion,  at  all  likely  to  be 
effected.  The  measure  in  which  the  late  ministers  had  been  defeated  was  one  in 
which  they  aimed  only  at  the  promotion  of  naval  and  military  officers.  Why  had  they 
stopped  with  those  classes  1  Why  had  they  not  extended  their  policy  also  to  the  pro- 
fession of  the  law,  and  to  all  the  departments  of  civil  government?  A  measure 
thus  partial  had  no  chance  of  producing  the  unanimity  which  was  alleged  as  its 
object." 

The  second  reading  was  carried  without  a  division. 
On  the  following  day,  the  14th,  a  bill  was  read  a  second  time,  for 
the  renewal  of  the  provisions  in  the  expired  act  respecting  American 
trade. 

Lord  Lauderdale  took  this  opportunity  to  repeat  the  attack  upon  ministers.  He 
accused  them  of  having  professed  a  readiness  to  support  the  late  government,  which 
yet  they  had  employed  every  illiberal,  underhand,  unmanly  means  to  subvert. 

The  lord  chancellor  said,  that  there  never  was  an  administration  which  had  less 
occasion  than  the  last  to  complain  of  a  factious  or  harassing  opposition.  There  had, 
in  fact,  been  nothing  like  a  systematic  plan  for  opposing  their  measures,  among  any 
of  those  with  whom  he  had  the  honour  to  act.  "All  the  talents,"  as  they  were  called, 
had  been  absolutely  without  any  opponents  in  that  House,  or,  he  believed,  anywhere 
else,  until  they  began  to  oppose  tfiemselves. 

The  bill  was  then  read  a  second  time. 

A  measure  for  the  erection  of  parochial  schools  having  passed  the 
House  of  Commons  and  been  read  a  first  time  in  the  House  of  Lords, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  301 

the  second  reading  of  it  was  moved  by  Lord  Holland  on  the  llth  of 
August. 

The  lord  chancellor  said,  he  must  oppose  the  bill  in  its  present  shape,  though  by 
no  means  unfriendly  to  the  principle  of  diffusing  instruction  as  generally  as  possible. 
He  was  fully  sensible  of  the  benefits  derived  from  the  system  of  education  in  Scot- 
land,— a  system  to  \vhich  he,  as  a  borderer  on  that  kingdom,  had  been  indebted  for 
his  own  education;  but  he  could  not  approve  the  present  bill,  which  was  wholly 
deficient  in  the  means  of  accomplishing  its  object.  Besides,  it  departed  from  the 
great  principle  of  education  in  this  country,  by  taking  the  business  of  instruction  in 
a  great  degree,  out  of  the  superintendence  and  control  of  the  clergy.  Moreover,  it 
placed  the  option  of  erecting,  or  declining  to  erect  the  school,  in  the  mere  numerical 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  each  parish — a  constitution  to  which  he  could  never 
agree.  It  would  give  rise  to  all  the  mischiefs  of  an  election,  and  to  litigation  without 
end.  He  objected,  also,  to  the  proposal  of  giving  to  the  Court  of  Chancery  the  dis- 
posal of  the  money  applicable  to  these  institutions  when  it  should  amount  to  a  certain 
sum.  It  should  be  recollected  how  moneys  so  entrusted  were  "  sweated"  in  that 
court;  and  how,  in  the  end,  when  the  oyster  came  to  be  divided,  the  parties  entitled 
got  nothing  but  the  shells. 

The  bill  was  thrown  out. — On  the  14th  of  August  the  session  was 
closed  by  commission,  in  a  speech  delivered  by  the  lord  chancellor. 

He  still  found  time  to  attend  to  the  welfare  of  his  personal  friends, 
as  will  be  seen  from  the  succeeding  letter  to  Mr.  Farrer,  on  the  im- 
portant subject  of  the  course  of  study  to  be  pursued  by  himself  and 
his  brother  in  their  preparation  for  the  bar: — 

(Lord  Eldon  to  James  William  Farrer,  Esq.") 

Written  at  Encombe,  and  franked  "Corfe  Castle,  October  14th,  1807. 
"Dear  Sir, 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  letter ;  and  the  concern  and  interest  which  I  cannot  but  take 
in  all  that  affects  the  welfare  of  those  who  are  so  nearly  connected  with  some  of  my 
oldest  friends,  as  you  and  Oliver  are,  lead  me  to  trouble  you  with  an  immediate  an- 
swer to  it.  If  you  and  Oliver  can  arrange  that  matter  to  your  mutual  satisfaction,  I 
think  you  do  right  in  looking  to  different  courts.  I  approve  altogether  the  idea  that 
such  of  you  as  look  to  the  Court  of  Equity  should  go,  and  for  a  good  many  years, 
the  northern  circuit,  as  well  as  he  who  makes  the  profession  of  the  common  law  his 
peculiar  study;  and  I  fully  approve  also  the  plan  that  the  equity  barrister  should  go 
to  Mr.  Abbott  for  twelve  months.  I  know  from  long  personal  observation  and  experi- 
ence, that  the  great  defect  of  the  chancery  bar  is  its  ignorance  of  common  law  and 
common  law  practice  ;  and,  strange  as  it  should  seem,  yet  almost  without  exception 
it  is,  that  gentlemen  go  to  a  bar  where  they  are  to  modify,  qualify  and  soften  the 
rigour  of  the  common  law,  with  very  little  notion  of  its  doctrines  or  practice.  Whilst 
you  are  with  Abbott,  find  time  to  read  Coke  on  Littleton  again  and  again.  If  it  be 
toil  and  labour  to  you,  and  it  will  be  so,  think  as  I  do  when  I  am  climbing  up  toSwyer 
or  to  Westhill,*  that  the  world  will  be  before  you  when  the  toil  is  over;  for  so  the 
law  world  will  be,  if  you  make  yourself  complete  master  of  that  book.  At  present 
lawyers  are  made  good  cheap,  by  learning  law  from  Blackstone  and  less  elegant 
compilers;  depend  upon  it,  men  so  bred  will  never  be  lawyers  (though  they  may  be 
barristers,)  whatever  they  call  themselves.  I  read  Coke  on  Littleton  through  when 
I  was  the  other  day  out  of  office,  and  when  I  was  a  student  I  abridged  it.  To  a 
chancery  man,  the  knowledge  to  be  obtained  from  it  is  peculiarly  useful  in  matter  of 
titles.  If  you  promise  me  to  read  this,  and  tell  me  when  you  have  begun  upon  it,  I 
shall  venture  to  hope  that,  at  my  recommendation,  you  will  attack  about  half  a  dozen 
other  very  crabbed  books,  which  our  Westminster  Hall  lawyers  never  look  at. — 
Westminster  Hall  has  its  loungers  as  well  as  Bond  Street.  Before  you  allow  your- 
self to  think  that  you  have  learnt  equity  pleading  with  your  chancery  pleader,  re- 
member to  make  yourself  a  good  conveyancer,  in  theory  and  practice.  I  venture  to 
assure  you,  without  qualification  upon  the  positiveness.with  which  I  so  assure  you, 
that  if  you  are  such,  you  will  feel  yourself  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  vastly  above 
your  fellows. — This  I  know,  from  my  own  personal  experience,  that  being,  by  the 

•  High  grounds  at  Encombe,  commanding  extensive  views. 


302  LIFE  OF  LORD 

accidents  of  life,  thrown  into  a  conveyancer's  office,  I  have  never  known,  in  a  long 
life  in  chancery,  how  sufficiently  to  value  the  advantages  that  circumstance  has 
given  me.  When  you  are  learning  to  draw  equity  pleadings,  you  may  be  learning 
this  also  in  your  father's  office.  But  you  must  labour  at  it  till  you  can  speak  and 
dictate  conveyances  of  every  species,  and  this  can  only  be  learnt  by  going  through 
the  drudgery  of  copying.  I  wrote  some  folio  books  of  conveyances,  and  I  strongly 
advise  you  to  do  the  same.  The  conveyancing  precedents  have  been  formed  and 
modeled  so  as  to  make  all  their  provisions  square  with  the  rules  of  law,  as  modified 
by  decisions  in  equity;  and,  unless  I  deceive  myself,  after  you  have  enabled  yourself 
to  dictate  the  different  species  of  conveyances,  and  by  that  time  have  thought  that  it 
was  a  mere  work  of  dull  labour,  with  nothing  of  theory  or  science  to  recommend  it 
to  serious  attention,  you  will  find  that  from  and  after  that  moment,  you  will  read  no 
chancery  case,  nor  hear  any  chancery  decision,  which  will  not  appear  to  illustrate 
and  open  the  meaning  of  all  the  phraseology,  dull  and  technical  as  it  may  seem,  of 
the  conveyancer's  language.  This  is  a  point  I  am  very  strenuous  about.  After  all, 
when  tolerably  well  furnished,  you  have  begun  your  chancery  practice,  go,  spring 
and  summer,  for  some  years,  the  circuit.  That  practice  will  keep  alive  your  common 
law  knowledge,  and  that  will  enable  you  to  improve  in  your  knowledge  of  equity. — 
But  it  hath  besides  many  mighty  advantages,  both  for  the  time,  and  in  future  life. 
On  the  recommendation  of  great  men  now  no  more,  I  followed  it,  till  it  became  in- 
justice to  my  equity  clients. 

"  Yours,  my  dear  sir,  truly, 

"Ei.nox. 

"'Oliver's  going  to  Holroyd  is  quite  right.  Both  he  and  Abbott  are  very  able  men. 
It  is,  however,  fittest  that  the  chancery  pleader  should  go  to  Abbott,  and  the  common 
law  northern  circuiteer  to  Holroyd."* 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  letter,  without  date,  but  written  in 
answer  to  one  from  John  Surtees,  Esq.,  dated  iSth  January,  1808,  in 
which  Mr.  Surtees  had  spoken  of  the  obligation  conferred  by  Lord 
Eldon  on  Mr.  Smith,  in  the  appointment  of  him  to  be  accountant- 
general  of  the  Court  of  Chancery : — 

"  Is  he  obliged  to  me?  In  my  judgment,  very  far  from  it.  Lord  Loughborough 
made  him  a  master,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  I  did  him  any  good  in  prevailing  upon 
him  to  take  the  office  of  accountant-general.  But  if  I  did,  what  is  that  compared  to 
the  weight  of  obligation  I  owe,  and  Lady  Eldon  owes  to  him.  for  the  kindness  shown 
to  us  and  the  assistance  given  us,  in  an  early  part  of  our  lives'?  Next  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam, I  look  to  him  as  our  greatest  benefactor  now  in  existence." 

The  present  earl  relates  that  his  grandfather's  friendship  with  Mr. 
Smith  began  at  Oxford,  and  continued  till  the  death  of  the  latter,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-seven.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scott,  during  the  early  years 
of  their  marriage,  were  a  good  deal  with  Mr.  Smith  in  Yorkshire, 
where  he  then  lived ;  and  she  sometimes  made  his  house  her  home 
while  Mr.  Scott  was  on  the  circuit.  Mr.  Smith  had  afterwards  a  house 
at  Stanmore,  where  Lord  and  Lady  Eldon  usually  passed  the  Christ- 
mas, Easter  and  Whitsuntide  vacations.  He  was  appointed  account- 
ant-general by  Lord  Eldon  in  1801,  and  died  in  1819. 

*  Both  the  instructors  here  recommended  were  afterwards  judges  of  the  King's 
Bench  :  of  which  court  Mr.  Justice  Abbott,  after  serving  for  some  years  as  a  puisne 
judge,  became  lord  chief  justice,  at  first  without  a  peerage,  afterwards  with  the 
barony  and  title  of  Tenterden. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  303 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1808. 

Orders  in  council :  Lord  Eldun's  speech  in  defence  of  them. — Seizure  of  the  Danish 
fleet:  letters  of  Lord  Eldon  to  his  lady:  his  speech  in  defence  of  the  seizure  :  anec- 
dote of  George  III. — Detention  of  Danish  merchant-ships. — Note  from  the  Princess 
of  Wales. — Letter  of  Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire  on  revealed  religion. — Duke  of 
Cumberland's  visit  to  Encombe. — Sportsmen  trespassing  there. — Letter  of  Lord 
Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott,  advising  refusal  of  ecclesiastical  judgeship. 

THE  session  of  Parliament  in  1808  was  opened  by  commission  on  the 
21st  of  January,  the  royal  speech  being  read  by  the  lord  chancellor; 
of  which  the  most  prominent  topics,  in  reference  to  the  conduct  of 
government,  were  the  orders  in  council  and  the  seizure  of  the  Danish 
fleet  at  Copenhagen. 

The  celebrated  anti-commercial  decrees  of  Buonaparte  had  been 
passed  in  the  November  and  December  of  1806.  They  declared  the 
whole  of  the  British  dominions  to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade  :  they  pro- 
hibited all  trading  in  the  merchandize  of  England  ;  and  they  ordained 
that  every  article  of  her  manufacture,  or  belonging  to  her,  or  coming 
from  her  colonies,  should  be  lawful  prize,  and  that  no  ship  should  be 
admitted  into  any  port  under  the  control  of  France  without  a  certifi- 
cate of  origin,  showing  that  no  part  of  her  cargo  was  English.  These 
decrees  had  been  met  on  the  part  of  this  country,  by  an  order  in  coun- 
cil, which  was  passed  under  the  Whig  administration  in  January,  1807, 
and  which  forbade  the  trade  of  any  vessel  between  any  two  ports, 
being  in  the  possession  of  France  or  her  allies,  or  being  "  so  far  under 
their  control  as  that  British  vessels  might  not  freely  trade  thereat." 
It  was  hoped  that  this  counter  ordinance  would  rouse  the  neutral  states 
to  resist  the  original  decrees ;  but  experience  having  shown  that  the 
neutrals  were  not  inclined  to  oppose  the  assumptions  of  France,  and 
that  the  countries  under  her  control  were  actually  giving  effect  to  her 
mandates,  the  new  administration  resorted  to  orders  in  council  of  a 
more  stringent  character,  dated  November,  1807,  which  provided 
that,  with  certain  exceptions,  not  only  the  ports  and  places  of  France 
and  of  her  allies,  and  of  any  other  country  at  war  with  his  majesty, 
but  likewise  all  ports  and  places  in  Europe  from  which  the  British 
flag  was  excluded,  and  all  ports  or  places  in  the  colonies  of  the  king's 
enemies,  should  be  subject  to  the  same  restrictions  in  point  of  trade 
and  navigation  as  if  they  were  under  actual  blockade ;  further  declar- 
ing, that  all  trade  in  the  produce  or  manufactures  of  the  said  countries 
or  colonies  should  be  deemed  unlawful,  and  that  every  vessel  trading 
from  or  to  them,  and  its  cargo,  and  every  article  of  the  produce  or 
manufactures  aforesaid,  should  be  prize  to  the  captors. 


304  LIFE  OF  LORD 

The  legality,  as  well  as  the  policy  of  the  new  orders,  in  exceeding 
the  limit  of  the  order  of  January,  1807,  was  vehemently  contested  by 
the  opposition,  whose  wrrath  was  long  exercised  upon  them  in  both 
Houses  of  Parliament.  The  first  debate  upon  these  new  orders,  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  was  on  the  15th  of  February,  when  Lord  Auck- 
land moved  for  a  committee  to  take  them  into  consideration. 

The  lord  chancellor  defended  their  legality,  both  in  an  international  and  in  a  muni- 
cipal point  of  view.  The  decrees  of  Buonaparte,  he  said,  went  to  prevent  all  trade 
whatever  in  British  commodities ;  which  attempt  was  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  rights 
of  neutrals,  since  it  amounted  to  a  notification,  that  whoever  traded  with  Great  Bri- 
tain would  be  considered  an  enemy  by  France.  It  had  been  contended  that  our  orders 
in  council  of  November,  transcended  the  rule  of  the  war  of  1756,  which  would  have 
authorized  us  only  in  interrupting  the  coasting  trade  of  France.  But  the  excess  upon 
the  rule  of  1756  was  introduced,  not  by  this  new  order  in  council,  but  by  the  order  made 
in  January,  1807,  which  not  only  interrupted  the  coasting  trade  of  France,  but  included 
in  its  prohibition  the  trade  of  those  of  other  nations,  over  which  France  had  suffi- 
cient control  to  compel  their  exclusion  of  British  ships.  Now  ihe  exclusion  of  Bri- 
tish ships  was  undoubtedly  a  measure  which  any  nation  had  a  right  to  adopt  for  her- 
self; but  the  order  of  January,  1807,  had  proceeded,  and  very  justly,  upon  the  fact, 
that  the  exclusion  of  our  ships  in  this  war  by  the  nations  in  question,  was  not  an  act 
of  their  own,  but  an  act  imposed  upon  them  by  France.  They  might  suffer  some 
inconvenience  from  the  kind  of  retaliation  now  introduced,  which  placed  them  be- 
tween confiscation  for  obeying  the  French  decrees  and  confiscation  for  obeying  the 
British  order  in  council;  but  a  neutral  nation,  which  by  her  acquiescence  in  an  inva- 
sion of  her  rights,  lent  herself  to  one  belligerent  for  the  purpose  of  favouring  his 
trade  at  the  expense  of  the  other,  could  have  very  little  title  to  complain,  if  the  other 
belligerent  protected  himself  by  the  necessary  measures  for  rendering  such  a  com- 
bination ineffectual.  Those  measures  were  aimed  not  at  the  neutral,  but  at  the 
adverse  belligerent :  the  damage  to  the  neutral  was  only  incidental.  It  might  be  an 
evil,  but  it  was  not  an  injury.  To  prove  this  proposition,  he  cited  a  variety  of  author- 
ities derived  from  the  law  of  nations,  on  the  subjects  of  blockade,  embargo  and  other 
modes  of  interference.  In  relation  to  the  municipal  law,  he  defended  the  orders  by 
a  reference  to  decisions  of  the  British  Court  of  Admiralty,  and  to  the  constitution  of 
the  royal  prerogative. — The  expediency  of  the  orders  had  been  questioned  princi- 
pally in  relation  to  our  trade  with  America.  But  it  was  necessary  to  consider  not 
merely  the  advantages  which  America  might  bring  to  us  by  her  trade,  but  the  disad- 
vantages which  she  might  inflict  on  us  by  her  acquiescence  in  the  decrees  of  Buona- 
parte. He  was  on  every  account  desirous  to  avoid  a  rupture  with  America;  but  he 
added,  with  earnestness,  that  he  believed  the  greatest  danger  of  such  an  event  to  be 
from  those  who  argued  this  question  as  involving  that  result.  He  trusted  that  Ame- 
rica, perceiving  the  acts  of  France  to  be  the  real  cause  of  the  evil,  would  yet  dis- 
cern the  policy  of  joining  with  England  in  opposition  to  the  wild  and  extravagant 
pretensions  of  a  power  whose  object  was,  that  England  and  America  should  both  be 
crushed. 

The  motion  was  negatived  by  a  considerable  majority.  But  the 
subject  was,  on  the  8th  of  March,  brought  again  under  consideration 
by  Lord  Erskine,  who  moved  a  series  of  resolutions  condemnatory  of 
the  latter  orders  in  council.  Upon  these  resolutions  the  lord  chancel- 
lor moved  and  carried  "  the  previous  question."  The  grounds  of  his 
speech  were  mainly  the  same  with  those  which  have  been  already  set 
forth. 

The  seizure  of  the  Danish  fleet  was  a  matter  not  less  eagerly  can- 
vassed in  Parliament  than  the  orders  in  council.  It  had  not  escaped 
the  watchfulness  of  the  new  government,  that  Buonaparte,  to  whose 
yoke  the  state  of  Denmark,  neutral  as  she  professed  to  be,  had  im- 
plicitly submitted,  was  preparing  to  press  her  naval  force  at  Copen- 
hagen into  the  service  of  his  own  designs  against  England.  They 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  305 

therefore  determined  to  anticipate  his  movements  by  laying  up  that 
force  in  a  British  harbour.  For  this  purpose  they  fitted  out  a  power- 
ful armament  both  naval  and  military,  which  proceeded  to  the  waters 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Copenhagen.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  Jackson,  as 
British  envoyf  was  instructed  to  request  from  the  court  of  Denmark, 
a  peaceable  transfer  of  the  Danish  fleet  to  the  British  admiral,  under 
a  solemn  stipulation,  that,  if  so  transferred,  it  should  be  restored  to 
Denmark  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war  between  Great  Britain  and 
France.  The  Danish  court  endeavoured  to  amuse  Mr.  Jackson  by  a 
show  of  negotiation,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  time ;  but  it  being  at 
length  beyond  doubt  that  no  direct  answer  was  intended,  the  British 
commanders,  in  execution  of  their  instructions,  invested  Copenhagen 
both  by  sea  and  land.  A  few  days  of  brisk  siege  produced  a  capitu- 
lation, which  was  signed  on  the  8th  of  September:  and  the  Danish 
vessels  of  war  were  taken  from  the  basons  where  they  lay  in  ordinary, 
and  carried,  with  the  equipments  found  in  the  neighbouring  arsenal 
and  storehouses,  to  England,  \vhere  they  arrived  about  the  end  of  Oc- 
tober, 1807.  In  a  letter  to  Lady  Eldon,  written  on  the  18th  of  Sep- 
tember in  that  year,  the  chancellor  says : — 

"Friday  morning. 

"  After  a  very  long  cabinet  indeed,  yesterday,  at  which  I  flatter  myself  my  presence 
•was  of  some  use  to  my  country,  I  dined  at  Lord  Castlereagh's,  where,  besides  most 
of  the  cabinet,  I  met  Lord  Lake,  the  general  from  India,  two  of  the  officers  from 
Copenhagen,  and  two  of  the  officers  from  Buenos  Ayres,  so  that  we  had  a  complete 
hash  of  all  the  good  news  and  all  the  bad  news  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  day 
•was  rendered  entertaining  enough  by  their  different  accounts  of  the  transactions  in 
the  respective  countries  from  which  they  came. 

******** 

"  We  have  an  account  that  the  Danes  had  taken  a  plank  or  a  piece  of  a  plank  out 
of  every  ship,  and  replaced  it  with  a  thin  deal  so  pitched  and  painted  as  to  make  it 
look  like  the  rest  of  the  ship,  which  the  first  heavy  wave  would  have  stove  in  and 
sent  all  our  gallant  tars  to  the  bottom  in  every  one  of  them,  but  luckily  our  people 
discovered  it." 

In  another  letter  to  Lady  Eldon,  written  the  day  following,  he  says: — 

"  Yesterday,  as  I  said  I  should,  I  dined  at  the  admiralty,  and  I  met  there  Sir  Richard 
•itrachan,  Sir  Sidney  Smith,  Sir  George  Collier,  Captain  Bazeley,  and  half  a  dozen 
other  captains  and  admirals,  most  of  them  just  returned  from  Copenhagen,  and  we 
had  a  full,  curious  and  interesting  detail  of  the  particulars  of  the  transactions  there. 
The  state  of  the  inhabitants  in  Copenhagen  and  their  distresses  must  have  been  ter- 
rible and  tremendous.  In  one  street  our  mortars  destroyed  five  hundred  persons, 
principally  poor  helpless  women  and  children.  It  seems  weak  pride  and  false  honour 
that  actuated  the  Danish  commander.  From  the  first  he  meant  to  surrender,  and  yet 
wished  to  have  the  credit  of  a  battle  before  he  did  so;  and  to  this  point  of  military 
etiquette  he  sacrificed  one-fourth  of  the  buildings  of  the  town  and  devoted  to  destruc- 
tion property  and  lives  to  a  terrible  amount.  It  made  my  heart  ache  and  my  blood 
run  cold,  to  hear  the  accounts  these  gentleman  gave." 

This  exploit  did  not  fail  to  provoke  the  vituperation  of  the  Whigs, 
who  made  it  a  subject  of  charge  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  but 
without  success.  After  these  direct  failures,  Lord  Sidmouth,  on  the 
18th  of  February,  revived  the  question  by  a  side-wind,  in  a  motion, 
"that  no  measures  should  be  taken  with  respect  to  the  ships,  which 
might  preclude  the  eventual  restitution  of  them  to  Denmark,  agree- 
VOL.  i.— 20 


306  LIFE  OF  LORD 

ably  to  the  spirit  of  the  proclamation  issued  by  the  commanders."    In 
the  course  of  the  debate, 

Lord  Ellenborough  commented  severely  on  the  expedition,  as  dishonourable  to 
England:  and  denied  the  applicability  of  some  precedents  which  had  been  cited. 
That  England  and  Denmark  had,  since  the  seizure  of  the  ships,  been  engaged  in 
open  war,  made,  in  his  opinion,  no  difference.  Denmark  would  equally  be  entitled 
to  a  restoration  of  the  ships;  and  it  was,  therefore,  the  interest  of  England  to  keep 
them  in  such  a  state,  that  they  might  be  restored  with  the  smallest  possible  cost,  and 
that  at  least  a  penurious  justice  might  be  effected. 

The  lord  chancellor  answered  this  speech : 

He  contended  for  the  analogy  of  the  precedents,  and  declared  that,  so  far  from  feel- 
ing himself  dishonoured  as  an  Englishman  by  the  measure  adopted,  he  should  have 
felt  himself  dishonoured  if,  under  all  the  circunivStances,  he  had  hesitated  to  concur 
in  advising  it.  The  sort  of  justice  recommended  by  his  noble  and  learned  friend 
was  truly  a  penurious  one  ;  for  if  the  expedition  was,  indeed,  unjust  and  dishonour- 
able, then,  instead  of  keeping  the  ships  in  any  particular  way  and  at  any  given  ex- 
pense, this  country  ought  immediately  to  restore  them,  with  ample  amends.  But, 
as  the  case  stood,  the  Danish  government  had  not  even  a  pretence  for  demanding  a 
restitution,  which  had  been  offered  only  on  the  condition  of  a  peaceable  surrender. 

The  motion  was  negatived. 

In  reference  to  this  memorable  transaction,  Lord  Eldon,  many  years 
afterwards,  related  to  Mrs.  Forster  a  characteristic  trait  of  George 
III.  :— 

"  Do  you  recollect  when  we  took  the  Danish  fleet  during  the  war, 
Mrs.  Forster?  We  had  no  right  whatever  to  do  so,  but  we  were 
obliged,  or  it  would  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Buonaparte.  We 
deemed  it  a  matter  of  necessity.  Well,  we  sent  an  ambassador, — I 
think  it  was  Mr.  Jackson, — to  demand  the  ships  from  the  prince 
royal;  and  when  the  ambassador  waited  on  George  III.  on  his  return, 
the  king  abruptly  asked  him, '  Was  the  prince  royal  up  stairs  or  down 
when  he  received  you?'  'He  was  on  the  ground-floor,  please  your 
majesty.'  *  I  am  glad  of  it,  I  am  glad  of  it,  for  your  sake,'  rejoined 
the  king ;  '  for  if  he  had  half  the  spirit  of  George  III.  he  would  in- 
fallibly have  kicked  you  down  stairs.'  " — This  story  was  related  to 
Lord  Eldon  by  the  king  himself. 

Another  question  was  raised  by  Lord  Sidmouth  on  the  17th  of  May, 
as  to  the  detention  of  the  Danish  merchant  ships,  which  happened  to 
be  in  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  at  the  commencement  of  hostilities, 
having  been  seized  there,  or  brought  thither,  as  enemies'  property. 
Lord  Sidmouth  proposed  a  series  of  resolutions  for  the  restitution  of 
them,  subject  to  a  due  compensation  for  the  amount  of  British  in- 
terests which  might  have  been  sequestrated  by  the  government  of 
Denmark. 

The  lord  chancellor  opposed  this  motion,  on  the  ground  of  the  general  law  and 
practice  of  nations.  He  admitted  that  the  application  of  those  rules  might  often 
operate  with  hardship  upon  individuals ;  but  he  thought  it  would  be  difficult  to  main- 
tain that  a  commercial  peace  could  co-exist  with  a  political  war;  and  he  apprehended 
that  the  attempt  to  establish  such  a  theory,  and  to  set  up  a  rule  of  compensation  for 
private  losses,  would  lead  only  to  ruinous  speculations  on  the  part  of  individuals. 

He  therefore  moved  the  previous  question,  which  was  carried. 
The  retired  habits  of  Lady  Eldon  prevented  the  chancellor  from 
receiving  much  female  society  at  his  own  table.     When  he  did  so, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  307 

however,  he  acquitted  himself  with  a  very  good  grace,  as  will  be  col- 
lected from  a  note  addressed  to  him  by  the  Princess  of  Wales : — 

"  Thursday,  June  9th,  1808. 

"The  Princess  of  Wales  desires  of  the  lord  chancellor  to  express  to  Lady  Eldon 
how  much  she  was  mortified  at  not  having  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  her  at  the 
chancellor's  agreeable  dinner;  and  trusts  that,  whenever  another  opportunity  shall 
offer  itself,  she  may  have  the  gratification  of  assuring  the  lord  chancellor  as  well  as 
Lady  Eldon,  that  the  princess  will  ever  be  happy  of  personally  assuring  them  of  her 
highest  regard  at  their  house." 

The  session  was  closed  by  commission,  on  the  4th  of  July.  By 
this  time,  the  outrages  of  Buonaparte  upon  the  independence  of  Spain 
had  begun  to  rouse  the  indignation  of  her  people,  and  England  had 
cordially  answered  their  solicitations  for  aid.  These  circumstances 
formed  the  most  important  topic  of  the  royal  speech,  which  was  read, 
as  usual,  by  the  lord  chancellor. 

Neither  civil  business  nor  foreign  war,  neither  the  cares  of  the 
world  nor  its  contests,  estranged  Lord  Eldon  from  that  one  great 
interest  which  is  paramount  to  all  others.  The  present  earl  says, 
"  Dr.  Swire  and  Dr.  Zouch  having  edited  a  short  tract  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity,  written  by  Mr.  Sampson  George,  an  eminent  solicitor, 
who  resided  at  Middleton-Tyas,  sent  a  copy  to  Lord  Eldon,  from 
whom  it  produced  a  letter  to  Dr.  Swire,"  of  which  the  following  is 
an  extract: — 

(Sunday,  August  7th,  1308.) 

"  I  have  not  ceased  to  delight  in  the  studies  to  which  my  life  was  originally  intended 
to  be  dedicated.  I  confess  I  am  not  quite  so  anxious  as  others,  better  informed, 
perhaps  may  be,  to  find  the  doctrines  of  natural  and  revealed  religion  altogether  in- 
telligible. In  the  former  there  are  many  which  are  above  my  reason,  and  yet  they 
must  be  true.  That  a  divine  being  does  exist,  the  author  and  preserver  of  all 
created  beings,  himself  uncreated  and  existing  from  eternity,  is  a  truth  of  which  I 
have  no  doubt,  and  I  never  could  bring  myself  to  think  that  any  reasonable  being 
had  a  doubt  of  it. — and.  yet  how  much  of  how  this  should  be,  (undoubted  as  it  is  that 
it  must  be  so,)  is  above  the  comprehension  of  him  who  '  seeth  through  a  glass  darkly.' 
So,  as  to  this  doctrine  of  the  Trinity — I  don't  object  to  it  if  it  be  represented  as  a  per- 
fect mystery.  Compelled  to  believe  in  the  doctrines  of  natural  religion,  though  many 
of  them  are  above  my  reason,  why  I  should  withhold  my  assent  to  such  of  the  doc- 
trines of  revealed  religion  as  are  so,  I  know  not.  Upon  this  I  say, '  If  ye  believe  in, 
God,  believe  in  me  also.'  I  go  a  short  way  to  work  in  this  great  matter.  If  the  mat- 
ters, communicated  in  the  sacred  books,  are  communicated  by  the  God  of  Truth,  they 
must  be  true.  I  have  asked  myself,  therefore,  1st,  Has  this  communication  been  made 
by  the  God  of  Truth?  If  it  has,  2dly,  What  doth  the  communication  contain? — I 
have  not  been  so  far  led  astray  from  the  great  purpose  of  human  life,  of  this  state  of 
trial  and  probation,  as  not  to  have  often  and  often  endeavoured  to  enable  myself  'to 
give  a  reason  to  him  that  asketh,  of  the  hope  that  is  in  me.'  I  have  looked,  therefore, 
into  the  evidence  of  these  things,  and  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  divine  origin  of  the 
sacred  volumes.  If  so,  what  is  therein  contained?  If  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in 
Unity  is  not  therein  contained,  I  can  only  ask  him  who  can  prevail  upon  himself  so 
to  say, « How  readest  thou  ?'  Assuredly  not  as  I  read— for  unless  (coming  to  the  con- 
sideration of  this  important  matter  a  believer  in  natural  religion,  with  all  its  diificul- 
ties  about  it,)  I  am  to  twist  every  thing  I  find  in  revelation  till  I  can  represent  it  to 
myself  not  as  it  is,  but  as  I  think  it  should  be.  in  the  foolish  purpose  to  bring  it  down 
to  the  level  of  my  reason,  I  must  read  and  understand  as  it  is  written.  If  this  doctrine 
is  nut  there  revealed,  I  know  none  respecting  the  being  of  God  that  is  there  revealed. 
Indeed,  the  whole  Bible  scheme  of  man's  redemption,  the  whole  Bible  scheme  of  this 
world  and  that  which  is  to  come,  appears  to  me  very  mainly  to  depend  upon  it:  and 
when  the  man  of  reason  tells  me  he  understands  the  Godhead  better,  if  he  believes 
as  an  Unitarian,  than  I  do  who  believe  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  Unity,  I  am  con- 
tent that  he  should  think  as  meanly  as  he  pleases  of  my  understanding;  but  on  the 


308  LIFE  OF  LORD 

other  hand,  I  humbly  pray  to  God  to  forgive  his  presumption.  When  the  question 
vvas  asked, '  Can  these  dry  bones  live  T  I  think  the  answer  was, '  O  Lord  God,  thou 
knovvest:'  When  the  question  is  asked, 'Can  these  Three  be  One1?'  my  answer  is, 
'The  Lord  God  knoweth.' — He  has  said  it,  if  there  be  truth  in  Scripture. 

"  Though  I  write  in  this  style,  and  have  been  very  unwell,  and  stiil  am  not  as  I 
should  be,  and  however  grave  you  may  think  me,  don't  think  me  '  a  saint;'  I  mean  a 
'modern  saint.'  The  more  I  see  of  that  character,  the  less  I  like  it.  But  I  am  very 
serious  on  these  points." 

On  Saturday,  October  1st,  1808,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  came  to 
spend  two  days  at  Encombe  with  Lord  Eldon,  who  thus  describes  the 

visit : — 

(Lord  Eldon  to  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Scott.') 

"  Oct.  5ih,  1803. 
"  My  dearest  Henrietta, 

"Our  royal  visiter  arrived  here  on  Saturday  morning  between  twelve  and  one. 
The  day  happened  to  be  tolerably  good — not  such  a  day  as  Encombe  should  be  seen 

in,  but  Encombe  was  thought  very,  very  beautiful Sunday  was,  unluckily,  a  very 

wet  day,  so  that  we  could  not  get  to  church;  ....  our  non-appearance  there  was  a 
great  disappointment,  as,  had  the  weather  permitted  all  that  was  intended  by  the 
natives  in  point  of  attendance,  Mr.  Colson  must  have  preached  in  the  churchyard, 
as  all  the  families  in  the  island  meant  to  be  there.  The  day  held  up  a  little,  and  we 
j)lodged,&s  we  say  in  the  north,  through  the  wet  grass  to  Chapman's  Pool.  The  place, 
however,  from  gleams  of  sunshine,  and  from  Swyer's  being  occasionally  cloud-clapt, 
was  really  very  beautiful.  Our  evenings  were  of  course  spent  in  such  conversation 
as  becomes  princes  and  statesmen!  But,  speaking  more  seriously,  .  . '.  .  he  was 
very  good-humoured  and  condescending,  and  we  all  behaved  well  ....  dear  mam- 
ma, very  well — after  the  flutter,  which  you  know  so  rare  a  scene  would  occasion 
....  Bessy  was  all  in  alt — William  Henry  very  contemplative — Fanny  much  smitten 
— William  Surtees  very  arguefying  with  his  royal  highness  on  politics.  On  Monday 
he  breakfasted — walked  about — fell  in  love  with  mamma's  quarry,* — and  then  moved 
off,  we  walking  with  him  to  the  bottom  of  Kingston  Hill,  where  Fanny  got  an  embrace, 
and  we  have  had  some  difficulty  to  get  her  to  allow  her  face  to  be  washed  since,  lest 
she  should  lose  the  impression.  The  duke  seemed,  on  his  part,  pleased  with  his  visit. 
....  I  am  myself  wonderfully  better.  If  they  don't  drag  me  to  town,  I  shall  still 
be  strong  enough  to  do  some  good  or  some  mischief.  .  .  . 

"  Believe  me  to  be  affectionately  yours, 

"  ELDOX." 

It  may  probably  have  been  in  or  about  this  year,  that  Lord  Eldon 
had  that  whimsical  encounter  with  a  couple  of  strangers  at  Encombe, 
which  several  of  his  friends  will  remember  him  to  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  narrating  with  some  glee.  Taking  a  walk  by  himself,  and 
seeing  two  persons  on  his  land  with  dogs  and  guns,  he  accosted  them 
with  a  gentle  intimation  that  they  were  transgressing  the  law  and 
trespassing  upon  Lord  Eldon's  property.  "Oh,  no,"  said  one  of  them, 
"we  are  not  trespassing;  we  are  only  following  some  birds  that  we 
put  up  on  another  gentleman's  land.  If  you  go  home  and  ask  your 
master,  he  knows  the  law  better  than  to  tell  you  that  what  we  are 
doing  is  contrary  to  it."  "  Indeed,  gentlemen,"  replied  Lord  Eldon, 
"  that  will  hardly  be  his  opinion — for  he  is  the  person  wTho  now  ad- 
dresses you.  However,  as  you  do  not  seem  to  like  my  law,  you 
shall  pursue  your  amusement  for  to-day,  without  any  further  interrup- 
tion from  me." 

Sir  William  Wynne  having  determined  to  retire  from  the  offices  of 
Dean  of  the  Arches  and  Judge  of  the  Prerogative  Court,  Sir  William 

*  The  quarry  whence  the  fine  view  is  seen  at  the  entrance  of  the  valley  of  En- 
combe. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  309 

Scott,  then  Judge  of  the  Admiralty,  to  whom  these  situations  were 
offered,  had  some  difficulty  in  deciding  whether  he  should  accept  or 
reject  them.  The  acceptance  would  remove  him  from  the  Admiralty 
Court,  which,  as  being  better  both  in  its  profits  and  in  the  importance 
of  its  business,  he  was  desirous  to  keep;  but  then  the  deanery  of  the 
Arches  was  of  higher  professional  rank, — and  Sir  William  Scott  felt 
some  apprehension  lest  he  should  be  deemed  to  degrade,  if  he  allowed 
a  junior  to  overstep  him.  In  this  perplexity  he  consulted  Lord  Eldon, 
whose  opinion  was  given  in  the  following  letter : — 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.)— (Extract.) 

(No  date ;  written  about  the  end  of  1808.) 

"After  tumbling  the  matter  over  and  over  in  my  head,  I  can  make  little  more  of  it, 
than  to  consider  it  as  that  sort  of  matter  in  which  you  must,  in  a  great  measure,  en- 
tirely I  think,  decide  for  yourself.  The  considerations  you  state,  as  to  accepting  and 
holding  both  offices,  appear  to  me  to  be  weighty  and  just.  It  does  not  occur  to  me  that 
the  circumstance  of  your  retaining  your  present  office  (in  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  which  you  have  so  much  distinguished  yourself,  and  from  the  nature  of  the  duties 
of  which  you  must  continue  so  much  more  before  the  country  and  the  world,  than  you 
would  do  in  Sir  W.  Wynne's  present  offices)  could  affect  any  thing  in  prospect,  upon 
the  mere  ground  that  in  rank  at  the  Commons  you  would  not  stand  first.  Your  present 
office  ranks  you  infinitely  foremost  as  a  public  man;  and  nobody  can  succeed  Sir 
W.  Wynne,  who  in  this  view  of  the  subject  could  state,  for  years  to  come,  preten- 
sions equal  to  his.  As  to  the  matter  of  feeling,  that  you  will  judge  of  yourself.  I 
felt  nothing  when  I  was  Chief  Justice  of  C.  P.  on  the  ground  that  the  master  of  the 
rolls  had  precedence  of  me;  and  I  rather  think  I  could  have  had  my  choice  between 
the  offices.  I  suspect  that  Nicholl  will  not  take  these  offices  of  Sir  William  Wynne's. 
But  this  is  mere  guess-work.  I  can't  think  that  the  retaining  your  present  situation, 
merely  because  a  junior  will  have  professional  rank  beyond  the  judge  of  the  admi- 
ralty, can  affect  any  other  object.  It  is  in  that  character  you  have  so  strong  a  claim 
upon  the  country,  and  that  claim  admits  of  daily  manifestation  by  a  judge  of  the 
admiralty  in  these  times,  in  a  degree  and  with  a  lustre,  which  cannot,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  belong  to  the  pretensions  in  these  times  of  the  Dean  of  the  Arches  and 
Judge  of  the  Prerogative." 

Sir  William  took  his  brother's  counsel ;  and  Sir  W.  Wynne,  who 
resigned  on  the  20th  of  the  following  January,  was  succeeded  in  both 
offices  by  Sir  John  Nicholl. 


310  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

1809. 

Colonel  Wardle's  charges  against  the  Duke  of  York :  letter  from  the  first  Lord  Mel- 
ville.— Lord  Byron's  introduction  into  the  House  of  Lords. — Lord  Erskine's  hill 
against  cruelty  to  animals :  anecdote  of  him. — Scotch  judicature :  story  told  by 
Lord  Eldon. — Letter  from  Lord  Castlereagh. 

PARLIAMENT  was  opened  by  commission  on  the  19th  of  January, 
1809,  the  king's  speech  being  read  by  the  chancellor.  In  the  course 
of  the  session,  there  were  several  party  discussions  in  which  he  was 
a  prominent  partaker ;  but  the  interest  of  them  has  long  since  passed 
away. 

The  attention  of  the  House  of  Commons,  during  the  greater  part 
of  the  months  of  February  and  March,  was  engrossed  by  an  inquiry 
into  a  charge,  advanced  by  Colonel  Wardle,  a  member  of  that  House, 
against  the  Duke  of  York  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces,  and 
intended  to  implicate  his  royal  highness  in  certain  corrupt  practices 
of  a  Mrs.  Clarke,  his  mistress,  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  taking 
bribes  from  officers  to  procure  their  advancement  in  the  army. 

In  this  investigation  the  chancellor,  who  was  sincerely  attached  to 
his  royal  highness,  took  an  anxious,  though,  of  course,  not  a  public 
interest.  The  subject  occupied  a  good  deal  of  the  attention  of  minis- 
ters and  of  their  immediate  friends ;  and  Lord  Eldon  was  the  channel 
of  some  useful  suggestions  from  his  former  colleague,  Lord  Melville, 
with  respect  to  the  course  to  be  taken  by  the  defenders  of  the  royal 
duke.  It  appears  that  Mr.  Perceval,  in  adopting  the  substance,  had 
yet  deviated  from  the  form  of  Lord  Melville's  recommendations ;  and 
Lord  Melville  questions  the  expediency  of  this  departure  in  a  letter, 
which  remarkably  exhibits  the  skill  of  that  experienced  politician, 
and  furnishes  some  valuable  hints  upon  parliamentary  tactics  and 
constitutional  principles. 

"  Wimbledon,  March  llth,  1809. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  observe  by  the  newspapers  the  line  taken  by  Mr.  Perceval  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  the  business  of  the  Duke  of  York.  You  seem  to  have  adopted  the  sub- 
stance, but  have  varied  the  form,  of  the  suggestions  I  offered  to  your  consideration 
about  a  fortnight  ago.  I  am  well  aware  how  incompetent  any  person  must  be  to 
criticise  upon  the  result  of  deliberations  to  which  he  was  no  party,  and  it  is  without 
any  affected  diffidence  I  state,  under  such  circumstances,  the  doubts  I  entertain  how 
far  you  have  improved  my  suggestion  by  varying  the  form  of  it.  If  the  whole  pro- 
position had  been  contained  in  an  address,  it  would  have  simplified  the  business 
much,  and  limited  the  mode  of  discussion.  After  Mr.  Wardle  had  moved  his  ad- 
dress, Mr.  Perceval  would  then  have  moved  an  amendment,  by  leaving  out  the  whole 
of  Mr.  Wardle's  motion  after  the  words  'that  an  humble  address,'  and  substituting-his 
own  in  the  place  of  it.  By  this  means  the  debate  must  in  the  first  place  have  turned 
on  the  comparative  merits  of  the  two  addresses;  and  if  Mr.  Perceval's  had  been 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  311 

carried,  any  attempts  to  make  any  amendments  upon  it,  or  to  have  proposed  any 
totally  new  resolutions,  would  have  been  combated  with  much  advantage.  But 
by  separating  his  resolutions  from  his  address,  the  door  is  left  open  to  new  resolu- 
tions and  amendments  without  end  ;  and  in  the  mean  time  the  members  of  the  House, 
being  left  so  perfectly  loose,  have  the  opportunity  of  forming  themselves  into  cabals, 
and  thereby  compromising  and  concerting  their  different  resolutions.  I  feel  it  the 
more  idle  to  offer  these  observations  to  you  now,  not  only  because  I  am  ignorant  of 
the  reasons  which  induced  you  to  adopt  the  line  you  have  done,  but  because,  even  if 
you  think  me  right  in  my  criticism,  it  is  probably  too  late  to  act  upon  it. 

"In  all  the  various  propositions  afloat  for  conveying  an  opinion  to  the  king  for  re- 
moving the  Duke  of  York  from  the  command  of  the  army,  I  own  myself  completely 
bewildered.  The  Duke  of  York  is  in  possession  of  various  military  commissions 
from  the  king,  but  I  don't  know  any  one  in  particular  to  which  the  patronage  of  the 
army  is  attached,  which  is  the  only  object  the  House  of  Commons,  after  all  their 
investigations,  can  pretend  to  have  in  their  contemplation.  They  will  not  avow  an 
intention  to  address  the  king  to  take  from  the  Duke  of  York  any  military  commis- 
sion which  he  holds,  and  that  without  a  court  martial  or  any  other  constitutional 
mode,  by  which  the  lowest  officer,  bearing  a  commission  in  the  army,  is  removed. 
But  if  they  were  even  to  mean  to  take  from  the  duke  every  commission  he  holds, 
they  would  have  done  nothing  to  their  object,  if  they  mean  that  the  king  was  never 
to  be  guided  by  the  opinion  or  wishes  of  the  Duke  of  York  in  the  disposal  of  any 
military  commission.  By  the  constitution,  the  king  is  commander  of  his  own  army, 
and  may,  without  consulting  any  body,  or  consulting  whom  he  pleases,  (his  valet  de 
chambre  if  he  pleasesj  dispose  of  any  military  commissions  or  promotions,  as  suits 
his  inclination  or  judgment.  If  there  is  any  body  constitutionally  responsible  for  any 
military  commission  that  is  granted,  it  can  only  be  the  secretary  of  state,  who  coun- 
tersigns the  commission.  Perhaps  you  may  be  able  to  clear  up  my  doubts  and  diffi- 
culties on  this  subject.  I  confess  myself  unable  to  find  a  clue  to  unravel  them.  With 
a  view  to  any  practical  purposes,  perhaps  it  may  be  as  well  at  present  to  leave  them 
as  they  stand,  and  to  allow  these  various  motion-makers  to  find  them  out  after  it  is 
too  late.  If  the  question  was  to  be  agitated  in  the  House  of  Lords,  I  don't  think  it 
would  be  a  difficult  matter  to  argue,  that  these  various  propositions  went  a  considerable 
length  to  encroach  on  the  king's  acknowledged  prerogative  with  regard  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  military  force  of  the  kingdom.  I  am  to  be  in  town  to-morrow  forenoon. 
I  promised,  if  the  Duke  of  York  was  in  town,  to  call  upon  him  between  one  and  two. 
If  I  knew  where  you  would  be  between  three  and  five,  I  would  take  the  opportunity 
of  seeing  you,  and  making  myself  more  intelligible  in  case  you  do  not  fully  under- 
stand the  drift  of  my  observations. 

"I  remain,  my  dear  lord, 

"  Yours  truly, 

"  MELVILLE." 

On  the  17th  of  March,  the  House  of  Commons  came  to  a  resolu- 
tion, which  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  278  against  196,  that  the 
imputation  on  his  royal  highness,  of  corruption,  or  even  of  connivance, 
was  wholly  without  foundation :  and  the  duke,  upon  this  complete 
acquittal,  voluntarily  resigned  his  office. 

(LordEldm  to  the  Hon.  Miss  Scott.}— (Extract) 

(Not  dated;  but  written  Sunday,  March  19th,  1809.) 

"We  met  yesterday  (I  write  this  on  Sunday)  to  consider  what  was  advisable  in  all 
circumstances:  and  whilst  we  wise  heads  were  sitting  together,  a  messenger  arrived 
from  Windsor  with  one  of  the  most  atTecting  letters  from  the  king  to  his  servants, 
inclosing  another  of  the  most  affecting  letters  of  the  Duke  of  York  to  his  father,  that 
I  ever  read, — the  former*  offering  the  duke's  resignation,  the  latter*  accepting  it.  He 
has,  therefore,  voluntarily,  and  without  any  advice,  upon  his  own  judgment, resigned. 
People,  in  general,  as  far  as  I  have  seen  any  body,  seem  affected  and  softened  in  conse- 
quence of  this  step;  but  whether  the  bloodhounds  of  St.  Stephen's,  on  Bragge  Bathurst's 
motion  to-morrow,  will  or  will  not  continue  to  hunt  him  down  in  his  retirement,!  cannot 
say;  but  I  have  seen  so  much  of  injustice,  that  I  shall  not  he  surprised  to  see  a  good 
deal  of  hard-heartedness;  and  the  duke's  measure  having  disappointed  some  political 

*  Sic  in  orig. 


312  LIFE  OF  LORD 

manoeuvres,  the  vengeance  of  politicians  may  still  follow  him,  when  men  with  hearts 
would  forgive  and  relent. 

"  It  is  not  possible  to  represent  to  you  how  handsomely  and  in  how  dignified  a  way, 
both  the  king  and  the  duke  have  expressed  themselves  to  the  king's  servants  on  this 
distressing  occasion. 

*  «  *  *  *      •  »  # 

"  Ever  affectionately  yours, 

"  EI.DON." 

The  duke's  resignation  being  stated  next  day  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  the  motion  of  Mr.  Bathurst,  which  conveyed  a  general 
censure  on  the  duke,  was  negatived  without  a  division.  And,  in 
1811,  the  duke  resumed  his  office  with  a  popularity  far  more  general 
than  the  temporary  odium  to  which  he  had  yielded. 

When  a  member  of  the  House  of  Lords  takes  his  seat  there,  the 
formal  usage  is  for  the  lord  chancellor,  as  it  is  for  the  Speaker  of  the 
Commons  on  the  like  occasion,  to  shake  hands  with  the  new  comer. 
Lord  Byron,  who  made  his  first  entrance  into  the  House  of  Lords  on 
the  13th  of  March,  1809,  was  rather  peculiarly  circumstanced.  He 
was  disinclined  to  Tory  politics ;  the  Whig  party  had  affronted  him, 
through  their  great  literary  and  political  organ,  the  "  Edinburgh  Re- 
view," by  a  contemptuous  criticism  on  his  early  poems  called 
"Hours  of  Idleness:"  and  his  retaliatory  satire,  entitled  "English 
Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers,"  was  on  the  eve  of  publication. 

"  There  was  not  a  single  member  of  the  senate  to  which  he  belonged,"  says  Mr. 
Dallas,  in  his  "Recollections,"  "to  whom  he  could  or  would  apply  to  introduce  him  in. 
a  manner  becoming  his  birth."  "I  accompanied  Lord  Byron  to  the  House.  He  was 
received  in  one  of  the  ante-chambers  by  some  of  the  officers  in  attendance." — "  One 
of  them  went  to  apprize  the  lord  chancellor  of  his  being  there,  and  soon  returned  to 
him.  There  were  very  few  persons  in  the  House.  Lord  Eldon  was  going  through 
some  ordinary  business.  When  Lord  Byron  entered,  I  thought  he  looked  still  paler 
than  before,  and  he  certainly  wore  a  countenance  in  which  mortification  was  mingled 
with,  but  subdued  by,  indignation.  He  passed  the  woolsack  without  looking  round, 
and  advanced  to  the  table,  where  the  proper  officer  was  attending  to  administer  the 
oaths.  When  he  had  gone  through  them,  the  chancellor  quitted  his  seat  and  went 
towards  him  with  a  smile,  putting  out  his  hand  warmly  to  welcome  him;  and,  though  I 
did  not  catch  his  words,  I  saw  that  he  paid  him  some  compliment.  This  was  all 
thrown  away  upon  Lord  Byron,  who  made  a  stiff  bow,  and  put  the  tips  of  his 
fingers  into  a  hand,  the  amiable  offer  of  which  demanded  the  whole  of  his.  I  was 
sorry  to  see  this,  for  Lord  Eldon's  character  is  great  for  virtue  as  well  as  talent." — 
"  The  chancellor  did  not  press  a  welcome  so  received,  but  resumed  his  seat,  while 
Lord  Byron  carelessly  seated  himself  for  a  few  minutes  on  one  of  the  empty  benches 
to  the  left  of  the  throne,  usually  occupied  by  the  lords  in  opposition.  When,  on  his 
joining  me,  I  expressed  what  I  had  felt,  he  said, '  If  I  had  shaken  hands  heartily,  he 
•would  have  set  me  down  for  one  of  his  party;  but  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  of 
them  on  either  side.  I  have  taken  my  seat,  and  now  I  will  go  abroad." — Pp.  51  to  54. 

This  was  an  unnecessary  and  rather  captious  reserve :  and  what 
followed,  as  given  in  Mr.  Moore's  "Life  of  Lord  Byron"*  on  Lord 
Byron's  own  authority,  had  more  flippancy  than  wit.  The  admirable 
writer  of  that  biography  says : — 

"I  am  enabled  to  add,  from  his  own  report  in  one  of  his  note  books,  the  particulars 
of  the  short  conversation  which  he  held  with  the  lord  chancellor  on  the  occasion. 
'  When  I  came  of  age,  some  delays  on  account  of  some  birth  and  marriage  certifi- 
cates from  Cornwall,  occasioned  me  not  to  take  my  seat  for  several  weeks.  When 
these  were  over,  and  I  had  taken  the  oaths,  the  chancellor  apologized  to  me  for  the 

*  Chap.  VIII. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  313 

delay,  observing  that  these  forms  were  a  part  of  his  duty.  I  begged  him  to  make  no 
apology,  and  added,  as  he  certainly  had  shown  no  violent  hurry,  'Your  lordship  was 
exactly  like  Tom  Thumb  (which  was  then  being  acted), 

'You  did  your  duty,  and  you  did  no  more.'" 

Lord  Erskine,  \vho§e  kindly  nature  could  not  brook  any  wanton 
infliction  of  pain,  whether  on  his  fellow-creatures  or  on  the  inferior 
race,  moved,  on  the  15th  of  May,  the  second  reading  of  a  bill  intro- 
duced by  himself  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals.  The 
chancellor  expressed  his  concurrence  in  its  principle,  and  promised 
that,  in  committee,  he  would  do  his  best  to  give  it  practical  effect. 
The  bill  did  not  proceed ;  and  another,  which  Lord  Erskine  intro- 
duced in  the  following  year,  was  equally  unsuccessful.  He  continued, 
however,  to  take  a  strong  interest  in  the  subject,  and  sometimes  was 
only  restrained  from  personal  interference  with  brutal  fellows  who 
ill-treated  their  cattle  in  the  streets,  b^  the  probability  that  his  media- 
tion would  be  revenged  in  an  aggravation  of  inhumanity  to  the  objects 
of  his  care.  On  one  occasion,  however,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his 
own  residence  on  Hampstead  Heath,  where  a  ruffianly  driver  was 
pummeling  a  miserable  bareboned  pack-horse,  Lord  Erskine's  sym- 
pathy so  far  overcame  his  discretion,  as  to  provoke  him  to  a  smart 
remonstrance.  "Why,"  said  the  fellow,  "it's  my  own;  mayn't  I 
use  it  as  I  please?"  And  as  he  spoke  he  discharged  a  fresh  shower 
of  blows  on  the  raw  back  of  his  beast.  Lord  Erskine,  excessively 
irritated  at  this  new  movement,  laid  his  walking-stick  with  two  or 
three  sharp  strokes  over  the  shoulders  of  the  cowardly  offender,  who 
crouching  and  grumbling,  asked  him  what  business  he  had  to  touch 
him  with  his  stick?  "Why,"  replied  Lord  Erskine,  to  whom  the 
opportunity  of  a  joke  was  irresistible,  "it's  my  own;  mayn't  I  use  it 
as  I  please  ?" 

The  administration  of  justice  in  Scotland  had  for  some  time  occu- 
pied the  attention  of  the  Peers,  and  particularly  of  the  lord  chancellor 
and  Lord  Grenville,  the  latter  of  whom,  on  the  6th  of  June,  after  the 
third  reading  of  the  Scotch  judicature  bill,  moved  the  first  reading  of 
a  separate  measure  for  the  relief  of  suitors  in  the  Court  of  Session. 

The  lord  chancellor  consented  to  the  first  reading;  but,  referring  to  the  difficulty  of 
change  among  a  people  so  inveterate  in  their  habits,  expressed  his  belief  that  the  in- 
troduction into  Scotland  of  trial  by  jury,  in  civil  cases,  would  not  answer  the  expec- 
tation of  those  who  promoted  it.  Two  very  learned  persons  in  the  north  had  lately  been 
discussing  its  expediency.  The  first  disapproved  it,  and  asked  the  second  by  what 
machinery  he  would  introduce  such  a  change1!  "Why,"  answered  the  latter,  "what 
can  be  more  easy!  You  have  only  to  pass  an  act  of  Parliament  for  its  introduction." 
"My  friend,"  replied  the  first,  in  a  broad  Caledonian  accent,  "an  act  of  Parliament 
might  be  passed  to  make  us  two  speak  English;  but  I  suspect  we  should  be  very 
apt  to  go  on  speaking  Scotch  notwithstanding!" 

Parliament  was  prorogued  on  the  21st  of  June,  after  a  royal  speech 
delivered  by  the  lord  chancellor ;  who,  when  he  had  finished  his 
sittings  in  Lincoln's  Inn,  repaired  as  usual  to  Encombe. 

(Lord  Casllereagh  to  Lord  Eldun.) 

"  Stanmore,  August  23d,  1809. 
"My  dear  Lord, 

"  1  have  been  unwilling  to  trouble  you  with  any  business  since  you  left  town ;  in- 


314  LIFE  OF  LORD 

deed,  I  have  had  nothing  of  importance  to  submit  to  you,  to  justify  me  in  breaking  in 
upon  the  repose  you  so  much  required,  and  have  so  well  earned;  but  as  I  think  a 
little  military  gossip  may  not  be  unacceptable  with  reference  to  late  events,  and  at 
all  events  cannot  spoil  your  morning's  ramble  by  the  sea-side,  I  am  induced  to  send 
you  some  private  letters  from  my  brother,  which  may  amuse  an  idle  hour,  if  such  a 
period  is  ever  known  in  the  life  of  a  lord  chancellor. 

"The  king  has  been  very  gracious  to  his  army  in  Spain  and  its  commander — he 
raises  Wellesley  to  the  peerage,  with  the  title  of  Viscount  Wellington,  and  gives  the 
red  ribbon  to  Sherbrooke. 

"You  may  imagine  I  am  not  a  little  anxious  to  learn  the  result  of  this  severe  strug- 
gle on  the  general  state  of  the  campaign.  I  can  give  you  no  assistance  in  speculating 
upon  our  farther  efforts  in  the  Scheldt.  As  far  as  diversion  is  an  object,  (which, 
connected  with  the  state  of  affairs  in  Austria,  it  certainly  may  be  one  of  the  utmost 
moment),  it  is  likely  to  answer,  for  we  find  they  are  assembling  troops  from  all  quar- 
ters to  oppose  us — bringing  them  even  from  the  fortresses  in  the  remotest  parts  of 
Prussia,  which  for  this  object  they  are  content  to  evacuate  and  to  restore.  An  effort 
so  serious  may  disappoint  our  ultimate  hopes.  We  shall,  I  hope,  however,  have  done 
something  for  ourselves,  if  we  can  contrive  to  hold  the  island  of  Walcheren,  and  much 
for  the  continent,  if  the  struggle  is  not  over  there.  The  mode  in  which  the  island  and 
fortress  of  Flushing  have  been  taken  is  also  creditable  to  our  arms.  My  companion, 
Lady  C.,  desires  to  be  remembered  to  your  lordship ;  and  as  you  would  not  come  to 
see  her  here,  as  a  punishment,  she  desires  me  to  put  your  lordship  in  mind  of  Lady 
Buckinghamshire's  friend,  Mr.  Flavell,  to  whom  you  were  so  good  as  to  hold  out  ex- 
pectation of  some  small  church  preferment.  Seriously,  if  you  can  gratify  my  mother- 
in-law,  who  is  always  very  kind  to  me,  it  will  gratify  me  more  than  I  can  express. 
"  Believe  me,  my  dear  lord, 

"  Most  sincerely  and  faithfully  yours, 

"  CASTLEHEAKII." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  315 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

1809. 

Declining  health  of  the  Duke  of  Portland,  then  first  minister:  letter  from  Mr.  Perceval 
to  Lord  Eldon. — Mr.  Canning's  requisition  for  the  withdrawal  of  the  war-depart- 
ment from  Lord  Castlereagh :  letters  from  the  Duke  of  Portland  to  Lord  Eldon. — 
Duel  between  Lord  Castlereagh  and  Mr.  Canning;  disruption  of  the  cabinet;  the 
chancellor's  letters  to  Lady  Eldon  and  Sir  William  Scott  during  the  progress  of  the 
attempts  to  reconstruct  the  ministry:  claims  of  Mr.  Canning  to  the  premiership. — 
Death  of  Sir  William  Scott's  lady. — Letters  from  the  chancellor  to  Lady  Eldon  and 
Sir  William  Scott,  relating  the  subsequent  attempts  at  a  ministerial  settlement. — 
Death  of  the  Duke  of  Portland. — Ultimate  composition  of  Mr.  Perceval's  govern- 
ment. 

THE  bodily  strength  of  the  Duke  of  Portland  was  now  visibly  declin- 
ing: and  his  colleagues,  as  well  as  their  royal  master,  were  aware  of 
the  decay,  and  anxious  about  its  probable  effects  on  the  composition 
of  the  government,  whereof  the  duke  was  the  ostensible  head.  Mr. 
Perceval,  in  August,  wrote  thus  to  the  chancellor,  who  had  left  town 
for  the  summer  vacation :  — 

"Downing  Street,  Wednesday,  August  16th,  1809. 
"My  dear  Lord, 

"I  conclude  that  nothing  very  important  passed  in  your  conversation  at  Windsor, 
on  the  subject  on  which  we  had  conferred  before  you  left  town,  or  I  should  have  heard 
from  you  upon  the  road.  But  as  I  had  nothing  particular  which  called  me  into  the 
closet  to-day,  I  thought  it  would  appear  as  if  I  put  myself  rather  intrusively  in 
the  way  of  his  majesty  if  I  went  into  him,  and  therefore  I  did  not.  I  was  the  more 
induced  to  this,  because  I  found,  from  Lord  Liverpool  and  Lord  Camden,  that  the 
king  spoke  to  them  both  of  the  situation  of  the  Duke  of  Portland;  that  he  expressed 
himself  as  thinking  that  he  could  not  remain  long  where  he  is;  and  that  therefore  it 
was  necessary  that  we  should  be  looking  about  us.  Lord  Liverpool  told  me,  that  the 
king  rather  expected  that  upon  the  duke's  return  to  town  he  might  renew  his  offer  to 
retire,  and  that  though  there  were  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  any  arrangement, 
yet  that  it  might  possibly  diminish  the  difficulties  of  the  other  subject.*  I  could  not 
iforbear  thinking,  from  the  suggestion,  that  he  had  been  talking  to  you  upon  the  sub- 
ject I  congratulate  you  upon  Wellesley's  victory.  There  is  nothing  yet  from  Wal- 
cheren  that  is  satisfactory. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  SPENCER  PERCEVAL. 

"I  have  seen  both  Lord  Titchfield  and  Lord  William  Bentinck  to-day.  They  repre- 
sent the  duke  as  quite  recovered  from  his  last  attack;  but  he  continues  as  unwell  as 
he  was  before." 

In  addition  to  the  ministerial  difficulties  threatened  by  the  Duke  of 
Portland's  failing  health,  there  had  sprung  up  a  new  and  still  more 
disquieting  perplexity.  In  the  beginning  of  April,  Mr.  Canning,  then 
secretary  for  foreign  affairs,  had  addressed  to  the  Duke  of  Portland, 
as  first  minister  of  the  crown,  a  requisition  that  Lord  Castlereagh's 

*  Mr.  Canning's  requisition  respecting  Lord  Castlereagh :  see  the  following  pages. 


316  LIFE  OF  LORD 

official  position  should  be  varied  by  some  arrangement,  which,  with- 
out necessarily  removing  him  from  the  situation  of  secretary  of  state, 
still  less  from  cabinet  office,  would  have  the  effect  of  withdrawing 
from  him  the  conduct  of  the  war- department.  Mr.  Canning  accom- 
panied his  suggestions  with  an  announcement,  that  in  the  alternative 
of  their  rejection,  he  must  himself  resign.  The  duke's  answer  was  a 
request,  that  Mr.  Canning  would  suspend  his  resolution  until  there 
should  have  been  an  opportunity  for  consulting  some  other  members 
of  the  government.  Before  the  end  of  the  same  month,  the  duke  en- 
tered into  the  subject  very  fully  with  Earl  Camden,  a  near  connection 
and  intimate  friend  of  Lord  Castlereagh;  and  Earl  Camden,  wrho  was 
then  president  of  the  council,  acceded  to  the  propriety  of  a  change 
in  Lord  Castlereagh' s  official  duties,  "  provided  it  could  be  effected 
honourably  for,  and  reconciled  to  the  feelings  of,  Lord  Castlereagh 
himself."  Of  this  conversation  with  Lord  Camden  the  duke  apprised 
Mr.  Canning,  who,  of  course,  \vas  entitled  to  conclude  that  Earl 
Camden  would,  as  from  the  duke,  make  the  proper  communication 
to  Lord  Castlereagh.  Toward  the  close  of  May,  the  lord  chancellor, 
who  had  already  been  apprised  of  these  particulars  by  the  king,  but 
under  strict  injunctions  of  secrecy,  received  the  following  communi- 
cation from  the  first  minister :  — 

(The  Duke  of  Portland  to  the  Lord  Chancellor.} 

"  Burlington  House,  Friday,  May  26ih,  1809. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  send  herewith,  for  your  private  eye,  the  communication  which  I  stated  to  you, 
last  Wednesday,  to  have  been  made  to  me  by  Canning  at  Easter. 

"I  am  sorry  to  add  that  I  had  a  communication  with  him  yesterday,  in  which  he 
appeared  to  be  more  determined  to  persist  in  his  determination  to  withdraw  himself 
from  administration  than  I  have  ever  yet  found  him,  and  to  announce  that  intention 
to  his  majesty  next  week.  If  it  cannot  be  prevented,  I  see  nothing  but  ruin  to  the 
country  and  to  Europe,  and  so  I  told  him  most  plainly  and  distinctly. 

"Ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"  Most  faithfully  yours,  &c., 

"  PORTLAND." 

On  the  31st  of  May,  Canning,  apprehensive  that  the  matter  might 
not  have  been  fully  explained  to  the  king,  repeated  to  his  majesty  the 
representations  he  had  before  made  to  the  Duke  of  Portland,  and 
tendered  his  resignation ;  upon  which  the  royal  command  was  laid 
upon  him  that  he  should  retain  his  office  until  his  majesty  should 
have  considered  the  whole  subject. 

(The  Duke  of  Portland  to  the  Lord  Chancellor.') 

"Burlington  House,  Wednesday,  June  7th,  1809. 
«  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  had  a  very  long  conversation  with  his  majesty  last  Monday,  by  which  it  appeared 
that  his  majesty  was  fully  aware  of  the  fatal  consequences  of  Canning's  persisting 
in  his  intention  of  quitting  his  majesty's  service,  and  that  his  majesty  had  occupied 
himself  in  considering  difierent  means  of  preventing  it  and  reconciling  Canning  to 
his  situation.  These  he  opened  to  me  at  great  length,  and  assured  me  that  he  would 
do  so  to  you  to-day.  My  principal  object,  therefore,  in  sending  you  this  note  is,  to 
beg  that  nothing  may  prevent  your  attending  his  majesty  early,  and  giving  him  time 
to  open  his  ideas  upon  the  subject  to  you.  I  told  Canning  yesterday  that  I  had  seen 
the  king,  and  acquainted  him  with  the  outline  of  his  majesty's  ideas:  upon  which  he 
abstained  from  making  any  observation,  but  could  not  but  feel  highly  flattered  by  his 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  317 

majesty's  attention,  and  the  opinion  which  his  majesty  had  expressed  of  him  in  all 
respects.  The  great  object,  and,  indeed,  the  sine  qua  non  with  Canning,  is  to  take 
from  Lord  Castlereagh  the  conduct  of  the  war;  and,  perhaps,  Canning  may  go  so  far 
as  to  wish  that  he  may  not  keep  the  seals,  but  have  some  other  cabinet  office.  But 
if  Lord  Castlereagh  gives  up  the  war-department,  I  think  Canning  would  be  satisfied, 
for  the  present  at  least.  But  I  wish  you  to  impress  upon  his  majesty,  that  if  this 
storm  is  laid,  it  must  be  his  act:  it  must  be  his  authority  alone  that  can  keep  every 
thing  quiet:  and  let  me  beg  you  to  implore  him  to  dispose  of  my  situation  in  any  way 
that  can  best  promote  his  service,  and  assure  him  that,  whether  in  or  out  of  office, 
(for  at  my  time  of  life,  and  with  my  infirmities  and  capacities,  it  cannot  become  me, 
if  I  quit  my  present,  to  take  any  other  office,)  I  never  shall  or  can  have  any  other 
object  but  the  advancement  of  his  glory  and  his  happiness. 

"Ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"Most  faithfully  yours,  &c., 

"  PORTLAND." 

These  letters  show  the  high  value  which  not  only  the  first  minister, 
but  the  sovereign  himself,  had  the  discernment  to  set  upon  Mr.  Can- 
ning, at  a  period  when  the  public  in  general  had  not  yet  paid  their 
tardy  tribute  of  admiration  to  his  great  qualities. 

From  time  to  time  during  May  and  the  following  month,  the  Duke 
of  Portland  had  been  in  communication  with  Mr.  Canning  on  this 
subject;  yet  it  icas  not  until  the  latter  part  of  June  that  Mr.  Canning 
was  allowed  to  learn,  or  even  suspect,  that  a  matter  which  so  nearly 
concerned  Lord  Castlereagh  had  all  along  been  withheld  from  Mm  by 
Lord  Camden.  Lord  Camden  afterwards  pleaded  that  he  had  been 
"  absolutely  restricted"  from  making  the  communication  to  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh :  and,  in  fact,  though  without  Mr.  Canning's  knowledge,  such 
a  restriction  had  been  laid  upon  Lord  Camden  by  the  Duke  of  Port- 
land until  (but  not  after)  the  28th  of  June. 

On  the  21st  of  June,  the  day  of  the  prorogation,  the  Duke  of  Port- 
land acquainted  Mr.  Canning,  that  a  new  distribution  of  the  business 
of  the  war-department  was  to  take  effect,  according  to  an  arrangement 
proposed  by  the  duke  himself,  and  that  his  majesty  had  desired  that 
Lord  Camden  would  communicate  this  decision  to  Lord  Castlereagh. 
Finding,  on  the  27th,  that  there  had  been  no  such  communication, 
Mr.  Canning  wrote  a  strong  remonstrance  to  the  duke  against  the 
concealment  and  delay :  and,  on  the  28th,  again  tendered  his  resig- 
nation to  the  king ;  but,  on  the  same  evening,  the  duke  signified  to 
Mr.  Canning  the  king's  pleasure  that  Lord  Camden  should  communi- 
cate the  intended  arrangement  to  Lord  Castlereagh,  and  that  the 
communication  should  be  made  as  soon  as  the  expedition  to  the  Scheldt 
should  have  sailed,  of  which  Lord  Castlereagh  had  the  management, 
and  which  was  expected  to  depart  in  less  than  a  fortnight.  Before 
that  time  had  elapsed,  the  duke  apprised  Mr.  Canning,  that  if,  as  was 
hoped,  Lord  Camden  should  make  a  vacancy  in  the  government  by 
resigning  his  office,  Lord  Wellesley  was  intended  to  be  Lord  Castle- 
reagh's  successor:  and  the  fortnight  having  expired,  Mr.  Canning 
repeated  his  urgent  desire  that  the  communication  might  be  made 
and  the  arrangement  completed  forthwith,  or  that  his  own  resignation 
might  be  accepted.  The  duke  represented  that  this  would  dissolve 
the  mmistry :  and  pressed  Mr.  Canning,  as  others  of  Lord  Castle- 
reagh''s  friends  in  the  cabinet  continued  to  do,  from  the  13th  to  the 


318  LIFE  OF  LORD 

20th  of  July,  that  the  new  arrangement  of  official  duties  might  stand 
over  till  the  termination  of  the  expedition,  adding,  that  if  this  interval 
were  given  to  the  friends  of  Lord  Castlereagh,  to  prepare  him  for, 
and  reconcile  him  to  the  change,  every  public  object  might  be  an- 
swered without  injury  to  individual  feeling.  To  these  arguments 
Mr.  Canning  yielded, — not,  as  his  enemies  imputed,  with  a  view  to 
prolong  a  disparaging  reserve  toward  his  colleague,  during  the  period 
which  must  intervene  before  the  result  of  the  expedition  could  be 
known  and  which  eventually  extended  to  somewhat  more  than  six 
weeks, — but  with  the  expectation  founded  on  the  assurance  of  Lord 
Castlereagh's  friends,  that,  "  in  the  interval,  and  without  loss  of  time," 
they  would  open  the  subject  to  him  in  such  a  manner  as  would  be 
likely  to  settle  it  amicably  and  with  due  consideration  for  the  public 
service.  The  result  of  the  expedition  was  known  on  the  2d  of  Sep- 
tember; and  on  the  3d,  Mr.  Canning  wrote  to  the  duke,  then  at 
Bulstrode,  to  remind  him  that  the  fixed  period  was  come.  To  Mr. 
Canning's  surprise,  the  duke  informed  him  on  the  6th,  that  no  steps 
had  been  taken  toward  a  new  arrangement;  that  there  were  other 
difficulties,  of  which  Mr.  Canning  had  not  been  before  apprised  ;  and 
that  the  duke  himself  had  resolved  to  retire.  Mr.  Canning  instantly 
requested  that  his  own  resignation  might  be  laid  before  the  king,  and 
desisted  from  any  further  attendance  in  cabinet,  although  he  continued 
to  execute  the  departmental  duties  of  his  office  until  arrangements 
could  be  made  for  filling  it  up. 

The  foregoing  dates  and  facts,  which  are  necessary  to  a  full  under- 
standing of  the  succeeding  letters  from  the  chancellor  to  Lady  Eldon 
and  Sir  William  Scott,  are  extracted  from  the  published  correspond- 
ence ;  which  will  be  found  in  the  Annual  Register  for  1809.* 

The  resignations  were  of  course  succeeded  by  that  disclosure  which 
Lord  Castlereagh's  friends  had  so  unwarrantably  postponed.  Lord 
Castlereagh,  on  the  8th,  craved  his  majesty's  permission  to  retire  from 
the  ministry;  and  on  the  19th,  having  meanwhile  informed  himself 
of  the  details  of  Mr.  Canning's  conduct  in  this  affair,  he  addressed  a 
letter  to  him  demanding  personal  amends.  A  meeting  took  place 
between  them  early  in  the  morning  of  the  21st  on  Wimbledon 
Common,  where  a  ball  from  Lord  Castlereagh's  pistol  disabled  his 
adversary,  by  a  wound  in  the  thigh. 

Lord  Castlereagh,  in  his  letter  of  challenge,  took  several  points: — 
that  Mr.  Canning,  after  receiving  a  promise  that  the  war-department 
should  be  withdrawn  from  Lord  Castlereagh,  had  continued  with 
apparent  confidence  to  act  as  his  colleague,  and  had  allowed  him, 
when  thus  virtually  superseded,  to  originate  the  Walcheren  enterprise ; 
that  Mr.  Canning  knew  Lord  Castlereagh  was  deceived,  nay,  more, 
had  himself  felt  and  stated  the  unfairness  of  such  a  deception,  and 
yet  had  acquiesced  in  it ;  and  that  the  concurrence  of  Lord  Castle- 
reagh's own  friends  in  the  endeavour  to  continue  the  concealment, 
was  no  excuse  to  Mr.  Canning  for  having  left  Lord  Castiereagh  in  a 

*  Appendix  to  Chronicle,  pp.  562.  574. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  319 

situation  so  derogatory  to  his  honour,  as  that  of  a  minister  retaining 
office  under  a  virtual  supersession.  In  all  this  the  high  feelings  of 
Lord  Castlereagh  may,  perhaps,  have  a  little  outrun  his  usual  habits 
of  forbearance  and  dispassionate  reasoning.  The  cotemporary  press, 
however,  seconded  his  view  of  the  subject,  and  threw  an  unmerited 
odium  of  bad  faith  on  Mr.  Canning.  But  at  this  distance  of  time, 
when  the  prejudices  and  partialities  which  then  obscured  the  subject 
have  passed  away,  its  real  merits  may  be  found  to  be  pretty  nearly 
these : — In  the  first  place,  with  respect  to  what  Lord  Castlereagh  says 
of  the  dishonour  thrown  upon  himself,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how 
his  continuance  in  office  could  possibly  discredit  him,  so  long  as  he 
was  kept  in  ignorance  of  this  virtual  supersession.  Then  he  treats 
the  concealment  itself  as  an  affront  from  Mr.  Canning:  but  until  the 
21st  of  June  it  is  plain  that  Mr.  Canning  could  have  no  suspicion  of 
the  reserve  that  had  been  practised  toward  Lord  Castlereagh.  After 
the  Duke  of  Portland's  report  of  the  conversation  in  April  with  Lord 
Castlereagh's  near  friend  Lord  Camden,  and  of  Lord  Camden's  stipu- 
lation that  the  change  should  be  reconciled  to  Lord  Castlereagh's 
feelings,  Mr.  Canning  could  never  imagine  that  all  parties  had 
resolved  to  leave  Lord  Castlereagh  wholly  in  the  dark :  and  Lord 
Camden  himself  seems  to  have  thought  it  must  have  been  so  obviously 
expected  of  him,  under  such  circumstances,  to  communicate  with  Lord 
Castlereagh,  that  he  found  it  necessary  to  publish  a  statement  in  the 
newspapers,  pleading  as  an  apology  for  himself,  that  he  had  been 
"  absolutely  restricted"  from  imparting  the  matter  to  him.  However 
Lord  Castlereagh  may  have  been  kept  in  ignorance,  the  facts  show  him 
to  have  been  mistaken  in  his  allegation  that  Mr.  Canning  knew  him  to 
have  been  thus  hoodwinked.  Mr.  Canning,  as  soon  as  he  knew  of 
the  concealment,  which  he  did  not  until  the  latter  part  of  June,  re- 
monstrated strongly  against  it,  accompanying  that  remonstrance  with 
an  actual  tender  of  resignation ;  but  then  came  the  Duke  of  Portland's 
assurance,  that  Lord  Camden  had  received  the  king's  commands  to 
break  the  matter  to  Lord  Castlereagh  when  the  expedition  should 
have  sailed,  which  it  was  expected  to  do  in  a  few  days  from  that 
time ;  and  it  was  only  when  those  few  days  had  expired  without  the 
requisite  explanation,  that  Mr.  Canning  became  properly  entitled  to 
insist  on  a  disclosure.  Thus,  what  Lord  Castlereagh  denominates 
acquiescence,  cannot  justly  be  said  to  have  begun  until  after  the 
sailing  of  the  expedition  in  the  middle  of  July.  But  did  it  then 
follow  that,  in  the  middle  of  that  July,  at  all  hazards  both  to  the 
public  service  and  to  the  personal  feelings  of  Lord  Castlereagh,  whose 
character  was  then  staked  upon  the  expedition,  Mr.  Canning,  after  so 
long  a  delay,  attributable  solely  to  others,  should  now  insist  on  an 
abrupt  and  instant  disclosure  to  his  colleague,  when  that  colleague's 
own  friends  were  anxiously  pressing  for  a  little  farther  respite,  and 
engaging  that  they  would  employ  the  interval  in  endeavouring  to 
adjust  the  whole  matter  on  satisfactory  and  amicable  terms?  Mr. 
Canning  could  have  nothing  to  gain  by  the  delay,  except  the  advan- 
tage of  doing  the  duty  he  had  undertaken  in  the  manner  least  painful 


-320  LIFE  OF  LORD 

to  his  colleague.  The  facts  fairly  considered,  seem  to  prove  only  a 
want  of  due  decision  on  the  part  of  the  Duke  of  Portland.  His  grace, 
as  the  head  of  the  administration,  was  the  party  with  whom  the  duty 
of  immediate  and  direct  arrangement  most  naturally  rested ;  but  his 
health  was  declining,  his  spirits  were  unequal  to  the  emergency,  and 
his  nervous  apprehension  of  public  inconvenience  induced  him  to 
pursue, — and  to  make  a  point  that  others  should  pursue, — the  very 
course  by  which  that  inconvenience  was  surest  to  be  brought  on. 
Lord  Eldon,  in  a  letter  of  the  4th  of  October,  hereafter  inserted,  very 
candidly  takes  blame  to  himself  for  his  part  in  the  suppression.  He 
had  a  strong  dislike  of  Mr.  Canning,  whose  movements  throughout 
this  matter  he  will  presently  be  found  opposing  and  severely  denounc- 
ing, in  reference  to  questions  of  public  duty ;  but  he  disdained  to 
slur  his  antagonist  with  the  undeserved  imputation  of  private  treach- 
ery ;  he  chose  rather  to  accuse  himself,  small  as  his  share  in  the  blame 
had  been,  than  to  warp  his  own  sense  of  personal  justice  and  truth 
by  lending  his  countenance  to  a  convenient  calumny.  Still  more 
important  is  the  testimony  of  the  Duke  of  Portland,  through  whom 
the  whole  negotiation  had  passed.  He  assured  Mr.  Canning,*  "  that 
he  should  be  at  all  times  ready  to  avow  that  the  concealment  had 
originated  with  himself, — that  he  had  enjoined  it  to  all  those  with 
whom  he  had  communicated,  from  motives  which  he  was  at  all  times 
ready  to  justify, — and  that  he  was  desirous  of  taking  whatever  blame 
might  have  been,  or  might  at  any  time  be  incurred  by  it  upon  himself." 
Mr.  Canning's  resignation  on  the  6th  of  September,  followed  on 
the  8th  by  that  of  Lord  Castlereagh,  had  thrown  the  cabinet  into  the 
utmost  confusion.  The  chancellor  wrho  had  left  London  for  his  vaca- 
tion, was  summoned  from  his  retreat  at  Encombe  to  give  his  advice 
and  assistance  to  the  king ;  and  the  passing  details  of  the  attempt  to 
reconstruct  the  ministry  were  communicated  by  him  to  his  lady,  in 
daily  letters  from  London  to  the  number  of  twenty.  These,  and  eight 
others,  two  of  which  have  been  quoted  in  Chap.  XXVI.,  are  the  only 
letters  extant  from  Lord  to  Lady  Eldon.  The  twenty,  of  September, 
1809,  have  escaped  destruction  but  by  the  accident  of  their  having 
been  placed  in  a  bureau,  of  which  the  key  was  afterwards  lost.  They 
not  only  exhibit  his  exceeding  affection  for  his  wife,  but  prove  his 
respect  for  her  understanding  and  his  confidence  in  her  discretion. 
The  following  extracts  from  them  comprehend  every  thing  which  now 
retains  any  public  interest. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Ms  Lady.} — (Extract.) 

(Not  dated  ;  but  written  Monday,  Sept.  llih.) 
"My  dearest  Bessy, 

"  We  are  here  in  a  most  singular  state. 

"As  soon  as  the  account  came  that  the  expedition  could  not  be  pursued,  Canning 
renewedf  his  insistings  that  Lord  Castlereagh  should  deliver  up  his  situation  to  Lord 
Wellesley.  The  latter*  magnanimously,  hut  I  think  most  foolishly,  said,  he  considered 
C g's  services  in  the  House  of  Commons  of  so  much  consequence  that  he  would 

*  See  "Annual  Register"  for  1809,  Appendix  to  Chronicle,  pp.  586,  587. 
f  By  his  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Portland,  Sept.  3. 

*  Sic  in  orig. :  Lord  Castlereagh  is  obviously  meant. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  301 

asi» 


ts 


s      a  eiter    sa   return  to  you  without  the  seals  in  my  hand,  wh  ich   think  very 
probable.-or  ,  it  that  is  not  so,  that  before  Christmas  they  will  not  be  in  those  hands 

SS.  We?  Si  r  f6'  °r,Sh0rtly'  th°rse  'T  Wi"  com™""",in  which  wS"av± 
ssing,  fear  no  interruption  of  our  happiness  by  any  future  even  temnorarv 
separation  between  us.     Thu  I  write  all  to  yourself  7 

In  a  letter  to  Lady  Elclon,  not  dated,  but  franked  September  13th, 
he  speaks  with  some  spleen  of  the  two  out-going  ministers,  Mr.  Can- 
ning and  the  Duke  of  Portland,  who  had  been  the  cause  of  the  dis- 
turbance. 


VOL.  I. — 21 


322  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"I  think  the  individual  who  has  occasioned  all  this  mischief  is  vanity  in  a  human 
form.  Nothing  will  serve  him  but  being  what  he  will  never  be  permitted  to  be;  and 
I  believe  now,  such  is  the  imbecility  of  man,  that  the  old  D.,  who  had  resigned,  is  try- 
ing, in  vain,  to  get  back  again." 

Increased  as  the  chancellor's  habitual  disinclination  to  Mr.  Can- 
ning had  been  by  the  feeling,  that  the  break-up  of  the  cabinet  was 
the  consequence  of  his  movements,  it  was  not  unnatural  that  these 
adverse  sentiments  should  be  still  further  aggravated  by  the  particu- 
lar suspicion  (imparted  to  Lady  Eldon  in  the  letter  of  the  llth  of 
September),  that  Mr.  Canning  had  been  the  author  of  the  suggestion 
for  taking  the  great  seal  out  of  his  hands.  In  sitting  down  to  corre- 
spond with  his  lady  he  would  of  course  have  all  these  annoyances 
pressing  on  his  mind,  with  the  yet  additional  irritation,  that  Mr. 
Canning  was  the  cause  of  his  being,  at  that  very  moment,  withdrawn 
from  her  society  and  from  his  needful  recreation  at  Encombe :  and, 
under  these  combined  vexations,  it  will  scarce  be  wondered  at  that 
the  motives  of  his  colleague  were  harshly  characterized  in  these  let- 
ters. Those  who  are  old  enough  to  remember  that  time  will  very 
well  recollect  how  generally  this  angry  tone  was  taken  by  the  high 
Tories,  who  treated  it  as  an  absolute  offence  "  that  Mr.  Canning 
should  be  setting  up  for  himself."  But  however  disagreeable  it  is 
to  most  men,  to  find  the  strength  which  they  have  long  commanded, 
out-growing  their  control  and  vindicating  its  own  independence,  they 
have  surely  no  right  to  treat  such  a  claim  as  an  injury.  The  Tory 
party  had  been  quite  as  much  indebted  to  Mr.  Canning  as  Mr.  Can- 
ning to  them :  and  throughout  these  proceedings,  while  he  asserted 
himself,  he  committed  no  injustice  to  others.  He  sought  the  removal 
of  Lord  Castlereagh  from  the  war-department,  not  that  he  might  him- 
self succeed  to  it,  but  that  it  might  be  committed  to  Lord  Welles- 
ley,  whom  he  deemed,  on  public  grounds,  the  fittest  person  to  con- 
duct it.  "When  the  Duke  of  Portland's  resignation  and  his  own  had 
been  announced,  and  a  negotiation  was  begun  for  constructing  afresh 
cabinet,  he  was  legitimately  entitled  to  take  his  stand,  and  to  decline 
a  renewal  of  his  aid  except  upon  the  reasonable  condition  that  he 
should  thenceforth  hold  a  station  of  which  the  power  should  be  com- 
mensurate with  the  responsibility.  Then  suppose  him  (which  seems 
probable  enough,  though  there  is  no  other  evidence  of  it  than  general 
presumption),  to  have  been  really  the  originator  of  that  which  was  of 
course,  to  the  chancellor,  the  great  annoyance  of  all,  the  suggestion 
for  placing  the  great  seal  in  other  hands,  yet  there  was  nothing  repre- 
hensible in  the  demand  of  one  public  "man  for  the  exclusion  of  another 
from  a  particular  office  in  a  new  administration,  unless  they  had  been 
on  some  terms  of  friendship  or  personal  co-operation.  And  although 
there  is  probably  no  man,  who,  looking  back  upon  that  great  chan- 
cellorship of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  would  be  of  opinion,  at  this  day, 
that  Lord  Eldon  could,  with  eventual  advantage  to  the  public,  have 
been  removed  from  the  great  seal  to  make  way  for  Mr.  Perceval,— 
yet,  in  1809,  when  these  discussions  were  going  on,  Lord  Eldon's 
reputation  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  was  but  of  a  few  years'  growth : 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  323 

and  Mr.  Canning,  who  would  naturally  estimate  a  chancellor  rather 
by  a  political  than  by  a  judicial  standard,  may  very  well  be  pardoned 
if  a  political  prejudice,  certainly  mutual,  misled  him  to  underrate  Lord 
Eldon,  as  Lord  Eldon  underrated  him. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  his  Lady.")  —  (Extract.) 

"Thursday,  (Sept.  14th.) 
"My  ever  dear  Life, 

"One  after  another,  all  of  us  saw  the  king  yesterday:  he  is  more  to  be  pitied  than 
any  man  in  his  dominions:  and  one  ambitious  man  is  the  cause  of  all  he  now  suffers. 
Mr.  C.  thinks  proper  that  his  determination  not  to  act  under  a  third  person,  or  to  do 
any  thing  else  but  be  himself  minister,  should  remain  unshaken;  and  his  resignation 
(is)  certain.  I  am  just  going  to  a  meeting  of  such  of  us  as  have  hearts  feeling  for 
the  king,  to  see  what  can  possibly  be  done,  as  all  attempts  to  bring  matters  to  rights 
again  have  finally  failed.  I  cannot,  for  one,  see  a  ray  of  hope  that  any  thing  can  be 
arranged,  which  can  have  any  endurance,  —  if,  indeed,  any  arrangement  whatever  can 
be  made;  —  and  yet  the  poor  K.,  in  language  that  makes  one's  heart  bleed  for  him, 
urges  that  we  should  not  run  away  from  him.  My  head  and  heart  are  perplexed 
and  grieved  for  my  old  master's  sake;  upon  my  own  account  I  do  not  care  a  fig 
about  it. 

"Friday  morning  (Sept.  13th.) 

"After  a  great  many  hours  spent  in  consultations  yesterday,  to  be  succeeded  by 
more  to-day,  among  those  in  whom  the  king  thinks  he  can  still  have  confidence,  we 
have  formed,  or  shall  form  opinions,  which  are  to  be  offered  to  his  consideration,  and 
which  he  will  adopt  or  reject,  as  he  thinks  fit.  I  still  think  that  it  cannot  end  in  my 
remaining  in  office.  I  use  the  expression,  in  whom  the  king  thinks  he  can  have 
confidence,  because  I  am  sure  there  is  scarce  a  man  living,  of  whom  he  can  say 
that  he  knows  he  may  have  confidence  in  him.  I  wish  to  God  the  thing  was  settled 
one  way  or  the  other!  If  I  knew  that  I  was  to  go  out,  I  would  come  to  you  instantly, 
and  stay  over  Christmas  ;  if  I  knew  I  was  to  stay  in  I  could  then  know  when  and  how 
I  was  to  see  you.  Some  of  the  plans  proposed  are  what  I  do  most  greatly  abhor,  and 
I  think  they  won't  succeed.  I  have  offered  my  office  to  the  king,  and  told  him,  for  I 
write  constantly  when  I  don't  see  him,  my  likings  and  dislikings.  'For  God's  sake,' 
he  says,  'don't  you  run  away  from  me:  don't  reduce  me  to  the  state  in  which  you 
formerly  left  me.  You  are  my  sheet  anchor!'  I  fear  the  effects  of  his  agitation  and 
agony  —  and  I  do  pray  God  to  protect  him  in  this  his  hour  of  distress. 

»»•«*«* 

"  May  God's  best  and  kindest  providence  watch  over  her  who  has  the  whole  heart 
of  her 


(Lord  Eldon  to  his  Lady.}—  (Extract.) 

(Not  dated  ;  but  written  on  Monday,  Sept.  18ih.) 

"I  proceed  to  tell  you,  with  much  feeling,  that  the  train  of  settlement  we  seem  to 
have  got  into  is  all  undone.  Shocked  as  I  am  to  say  it,  George  Rose  has  declared  his 
attachment  to  Canning,  —  Huskisson  has  done  the  same,  —  Charles  Long  won't  abide 
by  us,  —  Sturges  Bourne  has  declared  for  Canning.  As  these  are  the  four  men  of 
business,  it  appeared  to  us  last  night  that,  without  junction,  the  king  must  be  sacri- 
ficed; with  it,  I  do  not  know  how  he  is  to  be  saved  in  any  degree  of  comfort.  We 
are  to  take  the  resolution  as  to  what  is  to  be  communicated  to  him  at  a  meeting  to- 
day at  one  o'clock.  I  cannot  help  thinking  but  that  it  must,  that  it  necessarily  must, 
lead  to  my  being  restored  to  a  life  of  privacy." 

On  the  4th  of  this  month  of  September,  1809,  the  family  of  Sir 
William  Scott  had  been  visited  by  the  unexpected  calamity  of  his 
lady's  death,  which  happened  while  Sir  William  was  on  a  tour  in 
Scotland.  On  this  occasion,  Lord  Eldon,  from  amidst  the  sea  of 
troubles  in  which  he  was  struggling,  wrote  thus  to  Sir  William's 
daughter,  Mrs.  Townsend,  afterwards  Lady  Sidmouth  :  — 


324  LIFE  OF  LORD 

(Extract.) 

"I  learnt  this  morning  where  you  are,  and  I  take  the  first  moment  I  can  so  employ, 
for  the  purpose  of  assuring  you,  in  this  hourof  affliction,  of  my  warm  regard  and  affec- 
tion for  you.  I  know,  my  dear  Marianne,  this  is  offering  but  little;  but  sad  and  pain- 
ful experience  has  taught  me  that,  in  the  hours  of  affliction,  nothing  better  can  be 
offered,  in  aid  of  the  relief  which  submission  and  resignation  to  the  will  of  Heaven 
may  afford,  than  the  sympathy  of  others  and  their  assurances  that  they  grieve  with 
those  who  grieve.  In  one  word,  my  dear,  may  God  bless  you  and  yours  ! 

******* 
"My  poor  brother!  I  learn  by  a  letter  from  him,  received  by  me  yesterday,  that  he 
was  on  Thursday  last,  at  the  Duke  of  Atholl's,  —  meaning  to  go  to  Lord  Melville's,  — 
altogether  ignorant  of  this  calamity.  I  shall  feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  attend  on  Saturday 
with  those  who  are  there  to  join  in  the  last  sad  offices  of  respect  to  the  departed. 

"I  trust  you  have  heard  from  Bessy,  from  Encombe,  that  they  cordially  condole 
with  you. 

"Believe  me  to  be,  my  dear  niece, 

"  Yours  ever  affectionately, 


"  Should  you  see  my  brother  before  I  see  him,  offer  him  my  heart's  best  affections. 
"Tuesday,  Bedford  Square"  (Sept.  12ih,  1809). 

When  Sir  William  Scott  returned  to  his  family,  after  this  affliction, 
Lord  Eldon  wrote  to  him  in  terms  of  the  most  affectionate  condolence 
and  consolation  ;  and  afterwards  endeavoured  to  divert  his  grief  by 
almost  daily  communications  of  the  movements  that  were  going  on 
for  the  reconstruction  of  the  ministry. 

(Lard  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.)—  (Extract.) 

(Not  dated;  probably  written  Sept.  18th,  1809.) 

"Every  thing  is  as  uncomfortable  as  possible.  George  Rose  and  Huskisson  have 
made  their  option  to  follow  the  fate  of  Canning,  —  Sturges  Bourne  the  same.  Long 
says  things  won't  do,  and  he  proposes  to  separate.  He  thinks  Lord  Lonsdale  will.  — 
Perceval  has  reason  to  believe  the  Dundases  (Melvillites)  also  will.  It  is  clear, 
therefore,  this  administration  is  gone.  The  prevailing  opinion  is,  that  the  king  can 
retain  none  of  us,  as  able  to  form  an  administration  of  ourselves,  and  must  either 
throw  himself  into  the  hands  of  Grey  and  Grenville,  mixing  a  few  of  us  —  or  without 
any  such  mixture  —  or  must  try  such  an  administration  as  Canning  can  form. 

"  Lord  Chatham  is  come  home  —  declines  coming  to  cabinet.  As  an  officer,  com- 
ing from  an  expedition  with  his  conduct  not  formally  expressed  to  have  been  ap- 
proved, he  cannot.  In  truth,  considering  the  disturbed  state  of  cabinet,  he  cannot 
but  feel  very  uncomfortably  as  to  what  may  be  the  issue  of  this  business  to  himself. 

"I  have  no  other  news." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.) 

(Not  dated  ;  written  probably  Sept.  19th.) 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"  After  sitting  together  till  one  o'clock  this  morning,  we  got  the  length  of  drawing 
out  an  opinion  to  be  offered  to  the  king  (if  Mulgrave  could  be  got  out  of  bed)  this 
morning.  It  goes  to  coalitions  in  the  way  I  told  you  I  thought  it  would.  I  could  see 
nothing  else  that  could  be  thought  of,  and  was  obliged  to  submit.  If  it  is  accepted, 
of  course  I  consider  myself  as  gone.  I  think  it  will  not  be  accepted  :  the  effect  as  to 
me  is  the  same,  for  then  every  body  must  be  turned  out  that  is  now  in. 

"George  Rose  begins  to  be  in  a  quandary.    His  wife,  son  and  daughter  are  upon 
his  back.   In  reasoning  with  Bathurst,  he  stated  his  own  resignation,  if  it  takes  place, 
to  be  of  little  consequence.    He  illustrates  that,  as  Bathurst  tells  us,  by  assurances 
that,  though  it  was  generally  thought  Mr.  Pitt  could  not  have  gone  on  without  him, 
yet  he  vows  he  thinks  that  he  might!     His  family  ring  in  his  ears  'deserting  the 
king.'    I  dare  say  that  by  some  foolish  talk  with  C.  he  has  got  into  a  vast  scrape. 
"Long  is  off! 
"Adieu  for  to-day.    No  news  —  no  comfort. 

"Ever,  dear  brother, 

"  Yours  faithfully, 

"  ElBOW." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  325 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott,') 

(Not  dated  ;  but  written  Sept.  20th,  1809.) 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"I  write  this  merely  to  say,  that  things  look  like  junction  with  the  persons  I  men- 
tioned to  you,*  as  far  as  proposing  it  tends  to  it.  Perceval  was  with  the  king  yester- 
day upon  it.  He  would  not  give  his  consent:  he  took  time  to  consider  of  it.  I  think 
he  will  finally  consent  to  the  proposition  being  made.  I  think  the  arrangement  it  will 
lead  to,  h«  will  not  consent  to.  He  impatiently,  and  with  great  zeal,  insisted  upon 
my  being  retained,  as  I  learn  from  a  letter  of  P.  to  Liverpool;  but  all  that  won't  do. 
I  shall  write  you  to-morrow  what  passes  between  him  and  me  to-day.f 

"  God  bless  you, 

"  Yours, 

"  ELDON." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  his  Lady.)— (Extract.) 

(Not  dated  ;  written  Thursday,  Sept.  21st.) 
"My  ever  loved  Eliza, 

"  After  I  finished  my  letter  yesterday,  I  went  to  the  levee,  and  I  had  an  audience  of 
the  king  for  a  full  hour.  His  agitation  and  uneasiness  were  such  as  have  left  me 
perfectly  agitated  and  uneasy  ever  since  I  left  him,  though,  I  thank  God,  I  am  quite 
well.  I  dare  not  commit  to  paper  what  passed,  for  fear  accident  should  not  bring 
that  paper  to  the  hands  of  my  Eliza,  and  though  I  promised  her  a  letter  of  particulars, 
the  particulars  that  passed  are  really  so  very  special  in  their  kind,  that  I  cannot  com- 
municate them  even  to  her  except  in  conversation — and  would  I  could  have  that  con- 
versation !  He  would  not  decide  what  he  would  do,  but  said  he  should  compose  a 
paper  at  Windsor  last  night,  and  require  from  us  written  answers  to  several  questions 
he  should  put  in  that  paper,  and  order  us  to  be  convened  to-day,  to  consider  the  ques- 
tions and  give  the  answers  ;  and  accordingly  we  are  summoned  to  meet  at  one  o'clock 
at  Perceval's;  and  I  think  it  not  unlikely,  from  what  I  know,  that  we  may  sit  there 
till  one  in  the  morning.  By  we  I  mean  such  of  us  as  have  not  resigned  or  tendered 
our  resignations." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  his  Lady.}— (Extract.) 

(Not  dated  ;  but  franked,  Sept.  22d,  Friday.) 
"  My  ever  dearest, 

"  I  had  hoped  when  I  wrote  yesterday,  that  I  should  have  been  a  great  deal  wiser 
to-day  than  I  am.  We  waited  at  our  meeting  to  a  late  hour,  but  no  paper  came  from 
the  king.  I  infer  from  this  that  he  is  in  a  most  unhappy  state  of  difficulty,  and  knows 
not  what  to  do;  and  I  greatly  fear  that  something  of  the  very  worst  sort  may  follow 
upon  the  agitation.  If  it  pleases  God  to  avert  this  greatest  of  all  evils,  we  shall,!  hope, 
have  his  paper  to-day,  and  proceed  in  the  consideration  of  it.  But  if  he  has  taken. 
so  much  time  to  consider  it,  I  fear  I  must  look  to  those  before  whom  it  is  to  be  laid 
taking  some  before  they  can  make  up  their  minds  what  answer  they  shall  give  to  his 
questions  and  observations;  and  thus  things  train  on  from  day  to  day,  through  a 
period  of  time  which  is  very  long,  and  seems  longer  and  longer  as  it  is  protracted. — 
This  dreadful  business  of  the  duel  between  Castlereagh  and  Canning,  whilst  it  is  to  be 
lamented  on  every  ground,  adds  difficulty  to  difficulty,  and  I  have  no  doubt  will  create 
a  great  deal  indeed  of  additional  uneasiness  in  the  king's  mind." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  kit  Lady.} — (Extract.) 

(Not  daied  ;  but  written  Saturday,  Sept.  23d.) 

"  After  I  wrote  to  you  yesterday,  I  went  to  the  meeting,  and  I  there  found  that  Per- 
ceval had  received  the  king's  paper,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  compositions  and  the 
most  affecting  I  ever  saw  or  heard  in  my  life.  After  discussing  the  strength  which 
any  administration  could  have  that  did  not  include  G.  and  G.,  he  acknowledges  that 
there  would  be  a  weakness  in  it,  which  a  sense  of  duty  to  his  people  calls  upon  him, 
by  every  personal  sacrifice  not  affecting  his  honour  and  conscience,  to  endeavour  to 
avoid:  he  therefore  permits  his  present  servants  to  converse  with  them  upon  a  more 
extended  administration  than  his  present  servants  could  themselves  make,  but  de- 
clares previously  and  solemnly  that,  if  any  arrangement  is  offered  to  him  which  does 

*  Probably  the  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville. 
|  No  such  letter  has  been  found. 


326  LIFE  OF  LORD 

not  include  such  a  share  of  his  present  servants  as  shall  effectually  protect  him 
against  the  renewal  of  measures  which  his  conscience  cannot  assent  to,  that  he  will 
go  on  with  his  present  servants  at  all  hazards,  throwing  himself  upon  his  people  and 
his  God, — his  people,  whose  rights,  he  says,  he  never  knowingly  injured,  and  his  God, 
to  whose  presence  he  is  determined,  whenever  he  is  called  hence,  to  go  with  a  pure 
conscience.  He  predicts,  however,  that  though  he,  in  duty  to  his  people,  submits  to 
this  mortifying  step,  they  (G.  and  G.)  will  not  allow  any  effect  to  it;  and  then  ad- 
dresses himself  in  the  most  pathetic  strains  to  all  his  present  servants,  calling  forth 
all  their  courage,  their  resources,  and  the  discharge  of  their  duty  to  him.  Perceval 
and  Liverpool,  therefore,  will  talk  with  the  two  Gs.;  and  it  will  either  end  in  a  junc- 
tion, with  a  good  many  of  the  present  servants  left,  or  we  shall  live  for  about  a  fort- 
night after  Parliament  meets.  They  cannot  begin  their  conferences  till  about  the 
middle  of  the  week;  and  I  should  suppose,  if  they  begin  conferences,  they  will  con- 
clude them  in  the  week.  I  shall  not,  however,  be  surprised  if  these  gentlemen,  the 
Gs.,  refuse  to  confer  at  all  with  Perceval  and  Liverpool,  and  I  think  they  will  refuse, 
especially  if  they  have  any  understanding  with  Canning.  The  king  has  also  written 
a  most  dignified  paper  upon  the  fact  of  two  persons,  yet  having  the  seals  of  secreta- 
ries of  state  in  their  hands,  fighting  a  duel.  I  doubt  much  whether  he  will  permit 
either  of  them  to  make  their  formal  resignations  in  his  presence." 


(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.} 

(No  date;  but  written  probably  about  Sept.  23d.) 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"The  immediate  occasion  of  the  duel  was  not  what  I  know  how  to  call  a  direct 
efficient  cause. 

"  Canning's  concealing  from  Castlereagh  that  he  had  got  a  promise  that  Castlereagh 
should  go  out  after  the  expedition  was  terminated,  and  acting  with  him  in  the  mean 
time  as  in  full  confidence,  in  matters  of  infinite  delicacy,  was  the  alleged  cause  of 
the  demand  of  satisfaction. 

"The  letter,  in  which  it  was  demanded,  seemed  to  admit  that  this  concealment  was 
only  acquiesced  in  by  Canning,  and  not  observed  at  his  instance,-  but  the  letter  con- 
tended that  he,  Canning,  had  no  right  to  acquiesce  in  such  a  concealment, —  that  it 
was  dishonourable  between  colleagues,  and  dishonouring  him,  Castlereagh,  as  a 
colleague  and  a  gentleman ; — that,  though  several  others  knew  and  concealed,  they 
had  done  so  under  the  hope  of,  and  struggling  to  prevent,  by  amicable  means,  the 
removal  of  Castlereagh;  —  that  Canning,  on  the  other  hand,  though  concealing  it  at 
the  instance  of  others,  was  throughout  all  that  concealment  determined  to  insist  upon 
(and,  according  to  that  determination,  held  throughout  the  concealment,  finally  did 
insist  upon)  the  removal;  —  that  others  concealed  from  mistaken  regard  to  Castle- 
reagh—  that  Canning  acquiesced  in  concealment  from  other  feelings;  —  and  thaf, 
though  he  had  a  right  to  say  he  would  not  serve  with  Castlereagh,  he  had  no  right  to 
make  Castlereagh  believe  he  was  acting  cordially  with  him  throughout  the  expedi- 
tion, and  then  insist  upon  his  being  dishonoured  at  the  end  of  it. 

"  I  have  been  three  times  at  the  Duke  of  Portland's  door,  but  have  not  seen  him. — 
I  have  not  been  able  to  see  him  since  I  came  to  town. 

"  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  Perceval  wishes  to  make  Sidmouth  premier.  He 
would,  I  fancy,  rather  join  him  than  any  other  body,  and  in  principles  the  junction 
is  more  natural.  But,  on  counting  noses,  and  allowing  for  the  dislikes  and  deter- 
minations of  many  of  those  he  is  now  associated  with,  he  and  Sidmouth,  without 
them, — (they)  carrying  away  with  them  all  Melvillites,  Lonsdalites,  &c.  &c., — would 
be  weaker  than  he,  P.,  is  at  this  moment  alone.  What  is  precisely  meant  about 
Melville  cannot  well  be  stated  at  this  moment.  Robert  Dundas,  who  is  here,  thinks 
junction  with  Gs.  necessary,  but  how  much  Melvillites  are  to  contribute  he  does  not 
say.  Did  I  mention  that  Long  had  come  back  to  us  ?  Both  Rose  and  Long  have 
surely  acted  unwisely.* 

"  Love  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Townsend. 

"  Yours  ever  affectionately, 

"  ELDOJT." 


*  In  a  letter  to  his  lady,  of  20th  September,  Lord  Eldon  had  said,  " 
has  repented,  and  leaves  Canning." 


George  Rose 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  327 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.) 

(Not  dated  ;  wriiten  probably  about  Sept.  Oolh,  1S09.) 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"  Your  note,  which  I  received  to-day,  contains  sentiments  very  much  the  same  as 
my  own.  Rose  and  Long  have  done  great  mischief.  Their  secession  and  their  repre- 
sentations have  been  very  mischievous.  This  offer,  which  never  will  be  accepted,  is 
called  a  signal  of  weakness;  but  in  truth,  after  Canning's  movement,  weakness  is  so 
visible  and  so  apparent  as  to  want  no  pointing  out.  To  this  moment,  as  I  hear, 
George  Rose  will  have  it  that  the  administration  could  not  have  gone  on  (even)  if 
Canning  had  remained:  and  such  men  as  Lord  Lonsdale,  with  his  host  of  members, 
will  try  what  can  be  done  if  junction  is  refused,  but  will  give  no  assistance  if  it  is  not 
offered.  If  it  takes  place,  there  is  something  horribly  offensive,  shockingly  degrading 
in  it — and  feeling  that  most  bitterly  it  was,  that  I  asked  you  whether  F  was  right  in 
doing  as  the  king  might  wish.  For  in  truth,  a  sense  of  duty,  even  to  him,  will  not 
bear  me  quite  up  in  a  state  which  I  feel  so  disgusted  at.  Do  you  continue  of  opinion 
that  that  should  be  my  line?  Tierney,  I  hear,  says  they  will  not  think  of  accepting; 
and  ail  the  world  says  they  will  never  hear  of  me.  Would  to  Heaven  I  was  out  and 
done  with  it!  Robert  Dundas  is  here;  he  approves  of  the  course  taken.  What  does 
that  mean  as  to  Melville  ?  Yours, 

"  ELDOJ?  ." 
(Lord  Eldon  to  his  Lady.) — (Extract.) 

(Not  dated;  but  franked,  Sept.  28th,  Thursday.) 

"I  cannot  bring  my  mind  to  think  any  thing  so  proper  or  so  good  for  me  as  to  have 
done  with  office  now,  and  to  spend  the  rest  of  my  days  in  some  degree  of  quiet  and 
retirement;  but  I  am  afraid,  and  indeed  sure,  that  unless  he  is  so  driven  to  the  wall 
as  to  be  able  to  do  nothing  whatever  that  he  wishes  to  do,  he  will  make  it  a  most 
difficult  thing  for  me  to  quit  his  service.  Yet  I  shall  beg  very  hard,  for  in  truth  the 
labour  of  my  office  is  too  much  for  me  in  the  time  of  business,  and  what  recompense 
can  I  have  for  what, — I  speak  from  my  present  sufferings — for  what  I  undergo,  in 
having  my  time  of  vacation  ruined  as  this  is?" 

The  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville,  as  had  been  anticipated  by  Lord 
Eldon,  declined  the  proffered  junction. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  his  Lady) 

(Not  dated  ;  written  on  Monday,  Oct.  2U.) 
"  My  ever  dearest  and  most  beloved, 

"  I  told  you  in  a  little  note,  on  Saturday,  that  I  was  obliged  to  go  to  Windsor:  I  was 
compelled  to  do  it,  and  therefore  I  could  not  help  myself.  I  was  called  up  in  the  night, 
so  as  to  set  off  exactly  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning:  and  I  was  with  the  king  from 
seven  till  a  little  after  eight,  engaged  with  him  in  a  conversation  the  most  interesting, 
and  affecting.and  important, that  I  have  ever  had  with  man  in  my  life.  I  shall  soon.^I 
thank  God,  I  shall  soon  be  able  to  state  the  particulars  of  it  in  my  dearest  Elizabeth's 
hearing,  and  these  particulars  I  really  dare  not  commit  to  paper.  The  general  result 
is,  that  we  stay  in,  making  such  arrangements,  without  junction,  as  we  can,— standing 
of  course  till  Parliament  meets,  and  then  standing  or  falling  as  that  body  will  please 
to  deal  with  us.  I  think  we  had  better  have  resigned,  but  that  the  king  would  not 
hear  of  for  a  moment.  I  think  going  on,  with  a  certainty  of  being  turned  out,  would 
be  better  than  junction:  at  least  tome  it  is  more  acceptable;  and  if  we  are  turned  out, 
as  we  shall  be,  I  shall  have  the  satisfaction  of  remembering  that  I  declined  being  a  nego- 
tiator for  junction,  and  have  stood,  throughout,  the  servant  of  no  man  or  men  but  the 
kin°-,  and  determined  to  abide  by  him  and  him  only,  to  his  last  breath,  or  to  my  last 
breath,  as  far  as  I  have  any  thing  to  do  with  politics.  After  I  left  him,  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland's  Encombe  servant  I  found  waiting,  to  tell  me  that  the  duke  had  jusi 
heard  that  I  was  there,  and  had  got  breakfast  for  me;  and  I  was  shown  up  to  his 
apartments;  and  I  received  a  great  proof  of  his  good  nature  and  attention,  as  1 
thought  it,  and  as  he  certainly  meant  it;  for  he  had  sent  off  for  and  got  up  William 
Henry  from  Mrs.  Middleton's,*  and  he  breakfasted  with  us  at  the  castle.  This  was 
a  very  pleasing  incident.  I  had  very  little  time  to  stay,  and  after  sitting  awhile  a 
shaking  hands  with  William  Henry,  who  is  very  well,  I  returned  here  upon  my  bi 
ness.  Perceval  will  be  first  lord  of  the  treasury  in  the  room  of  the  Duke  of  1  ortland. 

*  Eton  School. 


328  LIFE  OF  LORD 

That  is  at.  present  the  only  appointment  settled.  Lord  Melville  is  behaving  well ;  so 
is  Lord  Sidmouth.  But  what  is  most  unexpected,  the  prince  has  really  conducted 
himself  towards  his  father  upon  this  occasion  with  exemplary  propriety.  The  king 
showed  me  yesterday  the  prince's  letter  to  him  and  his  answer;  and  I'll  tell  you  all 
about  them  when  I  see  you. 

******* 

"At  the  end  of  my  conversation  with  him  (the  king)  I  asked  his  leave  to  return  to 
Encombe.  He  said  I  should  not  go  till  after  his  levee  on  Wednesday,  for  he  must  see 
me  there;  that  I  might  then  put  myself  in  my  chaise,  come  to  you  without  stopping, 
and  stay  with  you  to  the  end  of  the  month.  This  was  our  bargain  at  parting;  and  I 
hope,  therefore,  to  dine  with  you  on  Thursday.  And  of  God  I  have  no  blessing  to  ask 
or  pray  for  with  so  much  of  anxiety  and  importunity,  as  that  nothing  may  interrupt  this. 
I  think  nothing  will  or  can.  O  that  I  was  with  you  !  For  ever,  and  ever,  and  ever, 

"  Yours,  your  own, 

"  ELDON." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.') 

(Post-mark,  Oct.  4th,  1809.) 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"If  you  recollect  at  what  vast  distances  men  to  be  talked  with  are,  you'll  not  be 
surprised  that  I  have  not  filled  up  vacant  offices  in  my  correspondence.  Melville 
must  either  be  in  office  or  be  satisfied  with  being  out  of  it.  Now  a  letter  to  him,  and 
an  answer  from  him,  and  a  reply  to  his  answer,  occupies  thirteen  days  and  a  half. 
There's  a  hope  that  Lord  Wellesley  will  take  the  foreign  secretaryship.  He  is  in  Spain. 
I  think  Bathurst  will  have  it  ad  interim.  One  infinite  difficulty  about  Sidmouth  is,  that 
every  person  connected  with  him  must  have  office  found  for  him  :  Bragge,  Vansittart, 
Hiley,  Hobhouse,  &c.  &c.  Sidmouth's  army  are  all  officers  and  no  soldiers.  I  sus- 
pect George  Rose  wants  to  be  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  As  to  calling  Parliament 
soon,  that  will  never  do.  Bets  here  go  twenty  guineas  to  one  that  we  never  face  it. 
But  odds  are  sometimes  lost.  I  think  we  shall  now  have  no  parliament  on  this  side 
of  Christmas. 

"  The  silence  of  such  of  Cas.'s  colleagues  who  knew  of  the  matter  cannot  be  well 
vindicated.  With  respect  to  myself,  I  feel  uneasy;  though  the  period  at  which  I  heard 
it,  the  personage  (the  K.)  who  told  it  me,  and  the  injunction  with  which  he  accom- 
panied a  communication,  which  I  must  needs  say  he  ought  not  to  have  made  under  such 
an  injunction,  give  me  a  good  deal  to  say  for  myself.  But,  in  some  degree,  all  who 
knew  it  have  been — more  or  less  blameable,  but  blameable. 

"Nothing  can  be  worse  than  the  Walcheren  business.  But  that  business  itself 
will  grow  worse  and  worse.  The  island  must  be  evacuated,  and  I  think  you'll  soon 
hear  the  army  accusing  the  navy  and  the  navy  accusing  the  army,  as  the  cause  of  the 
failure.  There  will  be  warm  blood  in  the  two  services. 

Harrowby,  I  think,  will  go  to  the  board  of  trade,  if  he  continues  to  exist:  he  is  very 
ill.  If  you  don't  hear  from  me  on  Friday,  I  shall  have  gone  to  Encombe  to  bring  ray 
family  home,  with  such  leave  of  absence  as  the  king  to-day  shall  offer  me.  I  shall 
not  ask  any;  but  I  have  had  a  hint  that  he  means  to  press  a  short  absence  on  me.  In. 
fact  I  have  got  to  the  full  extent  of  all  the  good  I  can  do  here.  Kind  regards  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Townsend.  Yours, 

"  ELDCW." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.") 

(Notdated;  but  written  at  Encombe,  Oct.  7th,  1809.) 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"As  I  intimated  it  was  likely,!  set  out  after  the  levee,  about  eight  at  night  on  Wed- 
nesday, for  this  place,  and  I  got  here  late  on  Thursday,  though  I  did  not  stop  on 
the  road.  I  lay  so  long  in  bed  on  Friday  that  I  lost  the  post,  and  this  I  write  on  Satur- 
day evening  for  to-morrow's  post,  Saturday  not  being  post  day  here.  I  shall  have 
all  things  packed  up  here,  that  we  may  all  return  on  a  moment's  notice  to  me  to 
come  back.  After  the  full  explanation  I  have  given  of  all  I  have  to  &ay  on  the  present 
business  I  do  not  know  why  I  should  be  called  up,  but  I  take  it  for  granted  I  shall,  and 
therefore  shall  have  my  household  as  well  as  myself  in  a  complete  packed-up  state. 
The  Duke  of  P.  gave  me  a  fair  opportunity  enough,  for  he  took  occasion  to  tell  me, 
that,  let  what  would  happen,  I  must  not  leave  the  king:  he  would  not  endure  it, — that 
is,  he  the  king,  would  not.  I  replied,  that  I  thought  if  there  was  a  junction,  the  new- 
ones  would  not  endure  me,  and  that  I  was  hurt  to  find  that,  among  the  old  ones,  those 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  329 

whose  confidence  I  thought  I  had,  had  been  represented  to  be  ready  enon»h  to  su»- 
grest  my  separation  from  office  and  therefore  from  the  king,  without  even  the  mention 
of  it  to  me.  He  was  apparently  embarrassed,  said  nothing  and  looked  foolish.  I 
should  have  pressed  him  to  the  quick,  but  a  man  labouring  under  the  torment  of  the 
stone  at  the  moment  was  an  object  of  pity.  Of  my  fact  I  am  sure :  there  are  so  many 
witnesses  to  it,  that  there  can  be  no  mistake.  Of  a  variety  of  propositions  as  to  filling 
offices  I  suppose  none  had  come  to  a  conclusion  yesterday,  as  I  have  no  letter  to-day. 
"All  here  desire  love  to  you,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Townsend,  and  I  am  ever  affection- 
ately yours, 

"EU)03T. 

"Saturday." 

(Extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Perceval} 

"  Downing  Street,  Oct.  14th,  1809. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  enclose  you  Lord  Melville's  answer  to  me ;  you  must  be  so  good  as  to  return  it. 
Vansittart,  I  think,  is  hopeless.  I  propose  making  one  other  attempt  at  a  chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  and  if  that  should  fail,  I  must  proceed  to  fill  up  the  treasury  com- 
mission upon  another  principle.  I  mean  to  apply  to  young  Milnes,  the  member  for 
Pomfret.  He  will  not  be  of  the  same  use  to  me  as  Vansittart,  but  he  will  be  of  great 
service,  if  we  can  secure  him  actively  with  us." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.} 
"Dear  Brother, 

"  By  a  letter  from  Perceval  to-day,  1  find  you  guess  better  than  I  do.  Lord  Mel- 
ville seems  determined  to  knock  us  all  on  the  head.  I  cannot  reconcile  his  conduct 
to  itself,  nor  his  letter  to  his  letters.  He  has  now  written  to  Robert  Dundas  to 
dissuade  him  from  keeping  the  secretaryship  he  has  accepted:  in  his  former  letters 
intimating  no  unwillingness  that  he  should  have  it.  The  world  is  turned  topsy-turvy. 

"Yours, 

"EtDO*. 

"  Wednesday  night"  (Oct  18th.) 

In  the  beginning  of  October,  Mr.  Perceval  had  succeeded  to  the 
station  of  first  lord  of  the  treasury,  retaining  with  it  his  former  office 
of  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  At  the  end  of  the  same  month  the 
Duke  of  Portland  died.  Although  this  nobleman  had  occupied  the 
place  of  first  lord  of  the  treasury,  he  had  been  but  nominally  the  head 
of  the  administration,  of  which  the  chief  directors  had  been  Mr.  Per- 
ceval, Mr.  Canning,  Lord  Castlereagh  and  the  chancellor.  The  ar- 
rangements for  its  reconstruction  were  therefore  little,  or  not  at  all, 
impeded  by  his  death.  The  Marquis  Wellesley,  to  whom  an  over- 
ture had  been  made  on  the  refusal  of  the  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville  to 
lend  their  assistance,  succeeded  Mr.  Canning  as  secretary  of  state  for 
foreign  affairs, — the  home  office  being  committed  to  Mr.  Ryder,  in  the 
room  of  Lord  Liverpool,  who  took  the  department  of  war  and  colo- 
nies vacated  by  Lord  Castlereagh. 


330  LIFE  OF  LORD 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

1809. 

Vacancy  in  the  chancellorship  of  Oxford.  Lord  Eldon  a  candidate  against  Lord 
Grenville  and  the  Duke  of  Beaufort. — Letters  of  Lord  Eldon  to  several  members 
of  his  family. — Lord  Grenville  elected. — Letters  of  Lord  Eldon  to  his  family,  and 
of  the  king  to  Lord  Eldon,  and  extract  from  the  Anecdote  Book  respecting  the 
contest. 

WHILE  the  arrangements  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  cabinet  were 
still  in  progress,  a  new  subject  of  interest  for  Lord  Eldon  had  arisen, 
out  of  the  vacancy  which  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Portland,  on  the 
30th  of  October,  occasioned  in  the  chancellorship  of  the  University  of 
Oxford.  When  it  was  first  suggested  to  Lord  Eldon  to  offer  himself 
for  that  honour,  his  own  inclination  was  to  disclaim  all  pretensions  to 
it;  and  he  so  expressed  himself  to  his  usual  confidant,  Sir  William 
Scott,  in  a  letter  of  which  some  extracts  follow,  relating  to  this  and 
other  topics. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.)— (Extract.) 

"  As  to  the  prosecution  of  the  '  Morning  Chronicle,'  and  as  to  your  friend  Cobbett, 
I  know  what  I  should  have  done  as  to  those  publications  long  ago,  if  I  had  been  at- 
torney-general; but  it  seems  to  me  that  ever  since  my  time  it  has  been  thought  right 
to  leave  the  government's  character,  and  individual  character,  without  the  protection 
of  the  law  enforced,  because  I  had  proved  its  efficacy  when  it  was  called  into  exertion. 
I  am  very  sore  upon  this  subject ;  I  have  growled  and  grumbled  about  it  till  I  am  weary. 
As  to  Cobbett,  I  am  quite  out  of  patience  about  those  who  will  take  in  his  paper ;  but 
I  observe  that  all  my  friends,  in  short  every  body  one  knows,  abuses  him,  but  enjoy 
his  abuse,  till  he  taps  at  their  own  door,  and  then  they  don't  like  the  noise  he  makes 
— not  a  bit  of  it. 

"As  to  the  chancellorship  of  the  university,  brother,  it  really  seems  impossible  to  be 
decisive  about  it.  If  it  is  necessary  that  I  should  be  so  to  others,  or  to  you  at  least,  I  have 
no  possible  alternative,  if  I  am  ever  so  wrong  in  that  view  of  it,  but  to  say  positively 
No" 

A  few  days,  however,  brought  a  direct  proposal  from  a  powerful 
party  in  the  university;  and  Lord  Eldon,  believing  it  ascertained  that 
the  Duke  of  Beaufort,  who  had  been  much  spoken  of  as  a  candidate, 
had  resolved  to  decline  the  contest,  now  permitted  himself  to  be  put 
in  nomination,  and  entered  warmly  into  the  spirit  of  the  election,  as 
against  Lord  Grenville,  whom  he  expected  to  find  his  only  competitor. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  the  Honourable  Mrs.  Scott,  (the  widow  of  his  eldest  son.)— (Extract.) 

(Not  dated  ;  written  probably  Nov.  1809.) 

"After  what  passed  between  you  and  me  about  honours,  you  will  be  surprised  to 
hear  that  I  am  involved  in  a  contest  about  a  very  great  honour.  But  I  think  it  my 
duty  myself  to  let  you  know  that,  to  my  own  great  surprise,  I  am  so  involved — I  have 
been,  as  I  thought,  compelled  to  accede  to  the  request  of  a  considerable  and  respect- 
able body  of  Oxonians,  expressed  to  me  in  the  most  pressing  terms,  and  urged  upon 
the  grounds  of  great  public  principles,  to  allow  them  to  name  me  as  a  candidate  for 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  331 

the  chancellorship  of  Oxford.  The  attainment  of  this  honour,  or  disappointment  of 
their  endeavours  to  succeed  for  me  in  this  matter,  as  they  have  involved  me  in  it, 
cannot  but  be  deeply  interesting  to  all  who,  in  any  way,  wish  to  add  to  the  respect 
and  regard  in  which  I,  or  those  who  may  come  after  me,  may  be  held  in  this  country, 
and  it  is  therefore  fit  you  should  have  a  communication  from  myself  upon  it.  Lord 
Grenville  is  the  other  candidate.  If  principles  of  such  importance  as  those  upon. 
which  the  request  to  me  has  been  put,  are  really  at  issue,  I  wish  the  request  had  been 
made  to  some  person  of  higher  character  and  consequence  in  the  state;  and  though  I 
should  never  have  thought  of  offering  myself  to  a  contest,  in  which  disappointment 
must  affect  my  family  as  long  as  my  name  shall  be  remembered,  I  could  not  possibly 
avoid  compliance  with  that  request  which  has  been  addressed  to  me.  And  lest  dis- 
appointment of  the  views  of  those  who  make  the  request  should  be  the  result,  I  am 
anxious  to  assure  you  that  I  am  no  volunteer  in  the  business.  There  is  a  canvass  on 
the  other  side,  carried  on  in  a  way  that  I  cannot  reconcile  to  my  old  ideas  of  Oxford 
delicacy.  I  cannot  follow  the  example  of  those  who  are  so  canvassing,  but  I  shall 
leave  the  matter  to  the  decision  of  those  who  may  think  proper  to  support  me  upon 
public  grounds,  or  who,  having  any  personal  attachment  to  me,  or  any  who  may  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  me,  may  think  it  right  to  aid  the  endeavours  of  those  who 
have  brought  forward  my  name.  I  am  surprised  at  the  extent  of  support  which  I 
hear  is  already  offered  me. 

"With  love  to  John  and  you, 

"Yours  truly, 


It  was  not  long  before  the  prospects  of  the  election  began  to  be 
overcast. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  the  Rev.  Matthew  Surtees.*)  —  (Extract.) 

(Not  dated;  probably  written  Dec.  1809  ) 

"After  it  was  fully  understood  that  the  Duke  of  Beaufort  had  refused  to  be  a  candi- 
date, and  some  of  his  nearest  connections  had  canvassed  for  me,  he  has  become  a 
candidate.  This  makes  confusion  more  confused;  but  I  shall  stand  it  out,  as  I  have 
consented  to  stand  —  for  I  cannot  be  made  a  fool  of  with  my  own  consent;  and  there- 
fore, if  both  the  D.  of  B.  and  I  go  to  the  wall,  and  Grenville  succeeds,  my  consolation 
is,  that  I  am  not  to  blame. 

"  Yours, 

"  ELDOW." 

At  the  time  when  this  contest  was  in  progress,  the  tenure  of  the 
ministry  seemed  by  no  means  secure,  and  the  apparent  probability 
that,  at  a  time  not  far  distant,  Lord  Grenville  might  become  the  leader 
of  a  government  whose  chancellor  would  not  be  Lord  Eldon,  had  a 
strong  operation  upon  the  "  independent,"  or  trimming  class  of  Ox- 
ford voters.  The  Whigs  conducted  the  struggle  with  their  accus- 
tomed zeal  and  activity.  Christ  Church,  Lord  Grenville's  own  col- 
lege, made  a  powerful  muster  in  his  behalf:  and  Dr.  Hodgson,  the 
principal  of  Brasennose,  which  is  the  body  next  in  influence  to  Christ 
Church,  is  reported  to  have  declared  that  for  some  weeks  preceding 
the  contest,  he  never  quitted  the  precincts  of  his  college,  but  occupied 
himself  on  the  spot,  without  remission,  in  writing  to  canvass  absent 
voters  and  managing  the  necessary  preparations  for  the  election.* 
With  all  these  efforts,  however,  the  Whig  party  would  have  made  a 
very  inglorious  conclusion,  had  not  the  interest  of  their  opponents 
been  divided. 

*  Law  Magazine,  No.  xliv. 


332  LIFE  OF  LORD 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.")—  (Extract.) 

(Not  dated.) 

"  The  king  to-day  said  it  would  be  hard  if  Cambridge  had  a  Unitarian  chancellor,* 
and  Oxford  a  Popish  one." 

On  Wednesday,  the  13th  of  December,  the  polling  began.  It  lasted 
through  that  day  and  night,  and  part  of  the  next  day,  and  terminated 
about  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  14th  :  the  result  was,  that  the 
Duke  of  Beaufort  obtained  238  votes,  Lord  Eldon  393,  and  Lord 
Grenville  406. 

To  lose  so  important  an  election,  and  by  so  small  a  number  of  votes 
as  thirteen,  was  matter  of  considerable  annoyance,  especially  in  a 
case  where  it  was  quite  clear  that  the  Beaufort  party,  whose  pertina- 
city prevented  Lord  Eldon's  success,  had  no  probable  chance  for 
their  own  candidate. 

(Lard  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.) 

(Not  dated  ;  probably  Dec.  1809.) 
"My  dearest  Sir  William, 

"  You  desired  me  to  write  soon.  I  do  so  to  say  that  I  am  as  stout  as  you  could  pos- 
sibly wish  me  to  be.  I  have  had  words,  and,  dignifiedly,  angry  words,  with  those 
who  have  given  no  support,  and  from  whom  I  had  a  right,  as  I  think,  to  demand  the 
most  effectual  support.  I  have  written  to  the  king,  to  know  whether  any  part  of  my 
conduct  could  justify  the  Oxford  reports,  that  I  had  not  his  support,  or  that  he  was 
hurt  that  I  did  not  give  way  to  Beaufort.  From  him  I  have  had  a  satisfactory  letter. 
I  still  think  that  I  can't  remain  (with  the  public  opinion  that  I  have  not  been  sup- 
ported) where  I  am;  and  I  persuade  myself  that  if  I  feel  compelled  to  retire  from  my 
great  office,  because  I  don't  choose  to  sacrifice  the  pretensions  of  a  man  long  labour- 
ing for  the  public,  to  a  fox-hunting  duke,  I  shall  not  fail  to  have  your  approbation.  I 
have  received  a  letter  from  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  in  answer  to  a  complaint  of  mine, 
that  he  had  no  reason  to  believe  I  had  the  support  of  government!  !  ! 

"As  to  what  I  am  to  do  about  the  high  stewardship,  I  am  willing  to  pause:  but, 
upon  looking  into  the  statutes,  and  my  oath  of  office,  I  may  be  called  upon  to  do  what 
I  never  will  do. 

"The  short  resuh  seems  to  me  to  be,  and  perhaps  the  best  result,  that  a  few  weeks 
will  send  me  to  dear  Encombe  as  a  resting-place  between  vexation  and  the  grave. 

"Yours  ever  affectionately, 


The  king's  letter,  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  note,  was  this  :  — 

"Windsor  Castle,  Dec.  16th,  1809. 

"The  king  has  received  the  chancellor's  letter,  and  sincerely  concurs  with  him  in 
lamenting  the  issue  of  the  contest  at  Oxford,  both  on  public  grounds  and  from  motives 
personal  to  the  chancellor.  His  majesty  desires  the  chancellor  will  feel  assured  that 
he  has  approved  his  conduct  throughout  the  whole  course  of  this  business,  as  well  by 
allowing  himself  to  be  named  a  candidate,  and  as  continuing  so  to  the  close  of  the 
poll  :  his  majesty  being  very  sensible  that  he  could  not,  with  honour  or  with  advan- 
tage to  the  general  cause,  retire,  after  his  friends  had  been  engaged  to  support  his 
well-founded  pretensions. 

"  GEORGE  R." 

(Lrird  Eldon  to  the  Honourable  Mrs.  &o«.)—  (Extract.) 

(Written  in  a  fit  of  the  gout,  probably  Dec.  1809.) 

"  Although,  as  far  as  my  observation  goes  upon  what  is  passing  in  human  life,  fail- 
ure always  in  some  degree  affects  character,  I  have  all,  in  the  circumstances  of  this 
business,  which  can  alleviate  feeling  upon  that  account.  I  have  been  supported  by 

*  The  third  Duke  of  Grafton,  then  chancellor  of  Cambridge,  was  a  Unitarian  ;  Lord 
Grenville,  then  candidate  for  the  chancellorship  of  Oxford,  was  the  leading  supporter 
of  the  Roman  Catholics. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  333 

a  vast  number  of  most  excellent,  learned  and  worthy  men,  upon  public  principle. 
Without  effort  of  my  own,  against  the  unprecedented  efforts  of  others, — efforts  which 
have  reduced  Oxford  to  the  state  of  the  worst  borough  as  to  election  practices, — I  had 
the  actual  majority,  and  should  have  succeeded,  if  the  return  made  to  me  for  the 
handsome  manner  in  which,  at  the  beginning  of  the  business,  I  conducted  myself  to 
the  Duke  of  Beaufort,  had  not  been,  that,  to  disappoint  me,his  friends,  as  I  am  assured, 
at  the  close  of  it,  voted  for  Grenville,  whilst  his  committee  refused  to  permit  any  of 
them  to  vote  for  me.  Aristocratic  combination  beat  me,  and  without  combination  it 
could  not  have  hurt  me.  Of  private  ingratitude  I  have  seen  much,  that  gives  more 
pain  than  the  gout.  Ingratitude  bites  hard.  It  gives  me  great  comfort  that  you  have 
reconciled  yourself  to  the  event,  and  I  know  you  would  not  have  done  so,  if  you  did 
not  think  that  I  ought  to  reconcile  myself  to  it.  I  beg  to  thank  your  brothers  for  their 
votes:  and  I  am  not  the  less  obliged  because  the  event  was  unsuccessful.  I  hear  the 
vice-chancellor's  communication  of  the  event  has  given  offence  to  the  person  to 
whom  it  was  addressed :  as  given  to  me  it  was  made  in  this  dry  form, — '  My  lord,  it 
is  my  duty  to  inform  your  lordship  that  you  are  elected  chancellor  of  this  university. 
I  have  the  honour  to  be  your  most  obedient  servant.' — The  king  is  very  angry.  He 
has  sent  me  a  very  handsome  letter,  approving  of  my  conduct  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  business.  Some  about  him  behaved  sadly  in  misleading  themselves 
and  the  Duke  of  Beaufort." 

(Lard Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.)—  (Extract.) 

(Not  dated  ;  probably  about  the  end  of  1809). 

"  If  I  doubted  the  king's  good  faith,  I  should  not  hesitate  one  moment ;  but  consider- 
ing what  we  were  pledged  to,  with  reference  to  him,  before  this  unfortunate  business 
was  engaged  in,— to  stand  by  him  on  his  account,  and  on  that  only, — if  he  has  kept 
good  faith,  I  doubt  whether  I  can  contribute  to  the  immediate  destruction  of  the  ad- 
ministration by  my  resignation,  and  whether  then  I  shall  not  be  told  that  I  have  ruined 
the  K.,  as  I  have  ruined  the  D.  of  B.,  more  especially  as  the  question  of  its  existence, 
if  I  remain,  is  probably  a  question  of  a  week  or  a  fortnight.  Independent  of  this,  all 
my  own  reasoning,  and  every  fact  you  state  to  me,  make  resignation  the  step  I  ought 
to  take  ;  and  this  I  must  discuss  with  you  when  I  see  you. 

"Yours, 

"  ELDOX." 

These  letters  evince  that  the  chancellor  felt  more  pain  from  his 
defeat  than  he  chose  to  acknowledge  to  others,  or  perhaps  even  to 
himself.  Many  years  afterwards,  when  the  vexation  had  been  as- 
suaged by  time,  he  wrote  a  calmer  record  of  the  whole  matter  in  the 
Anecdote  Book,  thus : — 

"  Upon  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Portland,  the  heads  of  Baliol, 
Worcester,  and  Oriel  colleges,  Dr.  Parsons,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Peterborough,  Dr.  Landon  and  Dr.  Eveleigh,  proposed  to  me  to  be  a 
candidate  for  the  chancellorship  of  Oxford.  I  had  reason  to  believe 
that  the  king,  George  III.,  was  anxious  that  the  Duke  of  Beaufort 
should  be  chosen.  I  waited  upon  his  majesty,  informed  him  of  what 
had  passed,  mentioned  that  I  had  collected,  from  what  his  majesty 
had  occasionally  dropped  in  conversation,  that  I  conjectured  that  his 
majesty  wished  that  the  Duke  of  Beaufort  should  succeed  the  Duke  of 
Portland;  and  that  I  should  feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  promote  the  gra- 
tification of  his  majesty's  wishes  to  the  utmost  of  my  power.  His- 
majesty  was  pleased  to  express  much  satisfaction  at  having  received 
this  mark  of  attention,  and,  having  avowed  a  strong  feeling  in  favour 
of  the  Duke  of  Beaufort,!  declined  to  be  a  candidate.  In  the  course 
of  two  or  three  days  the  king  sent  for  me,  and  told  me  that  as  I  be- 
haved so  handsomely  to  him  with  respect  to  this  matter,  he  thought  it 
incumbent  upon  him  to  be  himself  the  person  to  inform  me  that  the 


334  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Duke  of  Beaufort  would  not  be  a  candidate,  and  that  therefore  it  was 
now  his  personal  command  that  I  should  be  a  candidate.  The  contest 
then  began  between  Lord  Grenville  and  myself;  but  many  days  had 
not  passed  before  the  Duke  of  Beaufort  either  offered  himself,  or 
allowed  himself  to  be  proposed,  as  a  candidate.  His  majesty  again 
sent  for  me,  and  upon  being  admitted  to  his  presence,  he  insisted 
upon  my  continuing  a  candidate ;  he  said  he  was  too  anxious  about 
my  honour  to  allow  me,  in  these  circumstances,  to  give  way  to  the 
duke,  and  that  he  had  too  much  respect  for  the  members  of  the  univer- 
sity to  permit  them  to  be  thus  trifled  with.  The  contest  proceeded. 
The  Duke  of  Beaufort's  voters  were  few  in  comparison  with  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  voted  for  me,  and  with  those  who  voted  for  Lord 
Grenville.  On  the  evening  before  the  final  close  of  the  poll,  as  my 
friends  informed  me,  my  success  was  certain.  But  on  the  morning  on 
which  it  closed,  as  they  also  informed  me,  Lord  Grenville  received 
from  the  Duke  of  Beaufort's  committee  such  a  number  to  vote  for 
him,  instead  of  voting  for  the  duke,  as  gave  Lord  Grenville  a  very 
small  majority.  I  have  mentioned  these  circumstances,  as  account- 
ing for  my  presuming  to  be  a  candidate  for  this  high  office  in  con- 
formity purely  with  the  wishes  of  others,  and  as  accounting  for  the 
disappointment  of  their  wishes." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDOX.  335 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

1810. 

Opening  of  session. — Reversion  Bill. — Lord  Collingwood. — Letter  from  Prince  of 
Wales  to  Lord  Eldon. — Capital  offences:  certainty  of  the  punishment. — Catholic 
question. — Commitments  for  contempts. — Attempts  to  strengthen  the  ministry: 
letters  of  Mr.  Perceval  and  Lord  Castlereagh. — Letter  of  Sir  Vicary  Gibbs  on  the 
Canadian  constitution. 

THE  session  began  on  the  23d  of  January,  1810,  and  was  opened 
by  commission.  The  king's  speech  was,  as  usual,  read  by  the  lord 
chancellor,  who,  being  oppressed  by  illness,  withdrew  from  the  House 
soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  debate.  The  chief  topics  of  the  speech 
were  the  events  of  the  war,  and  the  necessity  of  vigorous  persever- 
ance against  the  enemy. 

During  the  earlier  months  of  the  session,  the  conduct  of  naval  and 
military  affairs,  particularly  with  reference  to  the  failure  of  the  Wal- 
cheren  expedition,  to  the  services  of  Lord  Gambier,  and  to  the  still 
more  important  achievements  of  Lord  Wellington,  were  the  most 
interesting  subjects  discussed  in  the  House  of  Lords;  but  in  the  de- 
bates on  these  matters  the  chancellor  took  little  part. 

The  second  reading  of  a  bill  for  preventing  grants  of  offices  in  re- 
version, was  moved  on  the  26th  of  February,  by  Earl  Grosvenor. 

The  lord  chancellor  opposed  the  measure.  He  did  not  deny  that  some  good  might 
be  effected  by  judicious  regulation, — by  the  curtailment  of  emoluments  in  some  cases 
and  by  their  total  abolition  in  others.  Without  inquiry,  however,  it  would  not  become 
their  lordships  to  legislate  upon  the  subject:  and  no  inquiry,  he  believed,  would  war- 
rant  the  House  in  going  to  the  length  proposed  in  this  bill.  Whatever  the  censure 
which  he  might  incur  for  his  dislike  to  innovation,  he  never  could  consent  to  legislate 
in  the  dark:  but  he  protested  against  being  considered  as  the  enemy  of  all  reform, 
merely  because  he  was  averse  to  reform  which  he  could  not  understand.  He  had 
himself  procured  reversions  for  members  of  his  own  family,  as  former  chancellors 
had  done;  and  certainly  without  the  smallest  conception  that  he  was  doing  any  thing 
of  an  objectionable  nature.  Having  done  this,  he  now  desired  to  avow  it;  though 
certainly  the  value  of  the  offices  so  bestowed  by  himself,  altogether,  was  not  sufficient 
to  make  the  validity  or  invalidity  of  the  gifts,  a  matter  of  any  great  uneasiness  to  the 
expectants. 

The  bill  being  rejected,  a  fresh  one  was  introduced,  differing  in 
some  particulars  from  the  former,  but  aiming  at  the  same  general  ob- 
ject. In  taking  away  from  the  crown  the  power  to  grant  reversions 
of  its  own  authority,  the  new  bill  provided  that  they  should  be  granta- 
ble  on  address  from  either  House  of  Parliament. 

To  this  provision  the  lord  chancellor,  on  the  second  reading,  17th  May,  especially 
objected,  and  said  that  by  these  means  the  patronage  of  the  king  would  be  transferred 
to  the  Lords  and  Commons.  In  an  economical  view  he  could  see  little  advantage 
from  such  a  transfer,  and  in  a  constitutional  view  still  less. 

*•-•' 


336  LIFE  OF  LORD 

The  second  reading  was  negatived  without  a  division. 

Lord  Eldon  told  Mrs.  Forster  he  was  present  at  the  funeral  of  his 
school-fellow  Lord  Collingwood,  who  died  on  the  7th  of  March  in  this 
year,  1810.  "  It  was  very  affecting,"  said  Lord  Eldon,  "his  sailors 
crowded  so  around,  all  anxious  to  see  the  last  of  their  commander. 
One  sailor  seized  me  by  the  arm,  and  entreated  I  would  take  him  in 
with  me,  that  he  might  be  there  to  the  end.  I  told  him  to  stick  fast 
to  me,  and  I  did  take  him  in  :  but  when  it  came  to  throwing  some  earth 
on  the  coffin,  (you  know  the  part  of  the  service,  '  dust  to  dust,')  he 
burst  past  me  and  threw  himself  into  the  vault:  it  was  very  affecting. 
— Collingwood  at  school  was  a  mild  boy ;  he  was  in  the  same  class 
as  my  brother  Harry :  but  he  did  not  then  give  promise  of  being  the 
great  man  he  afterwards  became :  he  did  not  show  any  remarkable 
talents  then." 

"  Lord  Collingwood  and  I,"  (said  Lord  Eldon  to  the  Hon.  Henry 
Legge  soon  after  the  battle  of  Trafalgar,)  "  are  memorable  instances 
of  the  blessings  to  be  derived  from  the  country  of  our  birth  and  the 
constitution  under  which  we  live.  He  and  I  were  class-fellows  at 
Newcastle.  We  were  placed  at  that  school,  because  neither  his  father 
nor  mine  could  afford  to  place  us  elsewhere;  and  now  if  he  returns  to  this 
country  to  take  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords,  it  will  be  my  duty  to 
express  to  him,  sitting  in  his  place,  the  thanks  of  that  House  (to  which 
neither  of  us  could  expect  to  be  elevated)  for  his  eminent  services  to 
his  country." 

In  the  Anecdote  Book  Lord  Eldon  writes : — "  I  heard  Lord  St. 
Vincent  say,  that  Collingwood's  conduct  after  the  battle  of  Trafalgar 
in  destroying,  under  difficult  circumstances,  the  defeated  fleet,  was 
above  all  praise.  The  late  king  (George  III.),  who  had  finally  the 
highest  opinion  of  Collingwood,  expressed  to  me  his  surprise,  how  a 
naval  officer  could  write  so  excellent  a  dispatch  as  that  which  con- 
tained Collingwood's  account  of  the  battle  of  Trafalgar ;  '  but,'  added 
the  king,  '  I  find  he  was  educated  by  Moises.'  " 

In  the  month  of  May,  another  letter  was  addressed  to  the  lord  chan- 
cellor by  the  Prince  of  Wales  on  the  subject  of  the  Princess  Charlotte's 
education.  Its  tone  evinces  that  by  this  time  the  uniform  fairness 
and  discretion  of  the  chancellor  had  much  softened  the  acrimony  of 
the  prince.  His  royal  highness,  after  signifying  his  concurrence  in  the 
king's  choice  of  Mr.  Archdeacon  Short  as  sub-preceptor  to  the  Princess 
Charlotte,  proceeds: — 

"  I  cannot  conclude  this  letter  without  expressing  to  yonr  lordship  the  sincere  grati- 
fication with  which  I  have  received,  through  your  lordship,  his  majesty's  sentiments 
respecting  this  most  interesting  subject:  and  I  trust  to  the  very  particular  attention 
which  has  marked  your  lordship's  proceedings  through  the  whole  of  this  business, 
to  take  the  most  suitable  course  of  conveying  to  the  king,  with  the  most  profound 
respect  and  duty  on  my  part,  the  feelings  with  which  I  am  impressed  on  this  occasion 
by  his  majesty's  most  gracious  and  condescending  attention  to  me. 

"I  am,  my  lord,  very  sincerely  yours, 

"GEORGE  P. 

"  Carlton  House,  May  8ih,  1810." 

The  subject  of  capital  punishment,  which  had  now  begun  to  occupy 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  337 

public  attention,  was  brought  under  the  consideration  of  the  House  of 
Lords  on  the  30th  of  May,  by  the  motion  for  the  second  reading  of  a 
bill  to  abolish  the  punishment  of  death  in  cases  of  privately  stealing  to 
the  amount  of  five  shillings  in  a  shop.*  This  was  a  bill  proposed  and 
carried  by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  in  the  House  of  Commons :  but  the 
arguments  which  prevailed  there  were  at  that  time  regarded  by  the 
Upper  House  as  too  speculative  to  be  safe.  Lord  Ellenborough  led  the 
opposition  to  the  bill,  by  moving  that  it  should  be  read  a  second  time 
on  that  day  three  months.  The  lord  chancellor  took  the  same  side. 

"I  feel  great  doubt,"  he  said,  "  whether  I  can  accede  to  the  principle  that  the  law 
should  apply  a  fixed  punishment  to  every  case  within  a  certain  definition,  excluding 
all  consideration  of  the  particular  circumstances;  or  whether  it  may  not  be  more  ad- 
visable to  leave  the  law  on  its  present  principle,  which  trusts  to  the  discretion  of  the 
judge  to  distinguish  between  the  different  shades  of  the  same  offence.  The  necessity 
for  this  discretion  very  often  exists,  and  I  think  the  judge  should  not  be  divested  of 
it.  Without  it,  great  violence  might  be  done  to  justice  and  humanity. 

"In  the  court  in  which  I  once  had  the  honour  of  presiding  as  judge,  I  remem- 
ber a  whole  family  of  persons  were  indicted  for  stealing  a  single  sheep.  It  was  a 
case  of  peculiar  hardship.  These  poor  people  were  driven  to  the  commission  of  a 
capital  crime  by  the  pressing  calls  of  famine — exhausted  nature,  no  longer  able  to 
bear  the  restraint  of  human  laws,  threw  aside  every  consideration  of  honesty,  and 
these  unhappy  wretches  committed  an  offence  which  subjected  them  to  a  capital 
punishment.  Now,  my  lords,  no  man  living  could  say  that  this  was  a  case  where 
the  judge  should  have  no  discretion.  There  is  no  man  living  who  could  go  through 
such  a  trial  without  feeling  that  he  should  commit  a  greater  crime  than  the  unhappy 
wretches  themselves,  if  he  permitted  the  law  to  take  its  course. 

"  I  shall  now  mention  a  case  where  the  principle  is  applicable  the  other  way. 
During  the  short  time  I  had  the  honour  to  be  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  this 
remarkable  case  occurred  before  me.  A  man  was  indicted  for  stealing  a  horse,  of 
the  small  value  of  seven  shillings  and  sixpence,  and  which  he  had  sold  for  lhat  sum. 
to  a  horse-butcher.  The  jury  found  him  guilty,  and  you  will  be  surprised, perhaps,  to 
learn,  that  for  so  trifling  an  offence  I  suffered  the  law  to  take  its  course.  The  punish- 
ment of  death,  for  this  offence  only,  might  appear  extremely  harsh;  but,  my  lords,  in 
this  instance  I  was  guided  by  the  nature  of  the  evidence  in  the  course  of  the  trial,  the 
detail  of  which  I  have  now  fresh  upon  my  memory.  It  appeared,  I  think,  that  on  the 
prisoner  were  found  skeleton  keys  of  all  the  turnpike-gates  within  twenty  miles  of 
London,  which  he  had  manifestly  procured  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  regular 
business  of  a  horse-stealer.f 

"Now  these  are  the  difficulties  which  would  constantly  arise  in  the  administration 
of  a  law,  prescribing  a  punishment  incapable  of  being  modified.  On  the  one  hand, 
you  would  be  leaving  heavy  offences  inadequately  punished  ;  on  the  other  you  would 
be  visiting  light  ones  with  unjustifiable  severity. 

"For  the  purpose  of  preventing  crime,  the  certainty  of  the  punishment,  it  is  said, 
and  not  the  severity  of  it,  is  the  efficacious  principle.  It  may  be  so;  but  no  man  will 
say,  upon  the  question  of  terror,  that  the  threat  of  that  extreme  punishment  has  not  a 
great  effect, — an  effect  not  alone  upon  the  offender  himself,  but  upon  the  rest  of  man- 
kind. And  when  we  talk  of  the  severity  of  the  punishment,  the  objection  to  the  law 
is  much  diminished  by  the  practice  of  it;  for  it  is  severe  only  by  its  frequent  execu- 
tion, whereas,  in  practice,  its  execution  is  extremely  rare.  It  is  needless  for  us  to  dif- 
fer about  theories,  if  the  practice  reconciles  the  difference." 

The  bill  was  thrown  out  by  a  majority  of  31  against  11. 
The  anecdote  of  the  starving  family,  and  the  argument  founded  on 
it,  so  far  as  they  respect  the  mere  policy  of  capital  punishment,  are 

•  See  10  &  11  W.  3.  c.  23. 

f  It  was,  perhaps,  an  unjustifiable  law  which  annexed  such  a  penalty  to  horse-steal- 
ing under  any  circumstances;  but  lhat  was  not  the  received  opinion  forty  years  ago: 
and  if  such  a  law  was  ever  to  operate  at  all,  this  was  the  sort  of  case  to  which  it 
seemed  most  applicable. 
VOL.  I.— 22 


338  LIFE  OF  LORD 

open  to  the  answer,  that  if  this  punishment  had  been  abolished  in  all 
cases  of  sheep-stealing,  which  is  what  its  opponents  were  prepared 
to  recommend,  there  would  have  been  no  room  for  the  inhurnanity 
apprehended  by  Lord  Eldon  in  that  particular  instance.  But  the  case 
of  this  starving  family  had  a  very  important  bearing  upon  the  general 
proposition,  maintained  in  Lord  Eldon's  speech,  that  punishment  may 
more  safely  be  left  in  the  discretion  of  the  judge  on  each  particular 
set  of  facts,  than  be  assigned,  without  remission,  to  all  offences  of  a 
given  denomination,  whatever  the  shades  of  difference  in  the  circum- 
stances. For,  however  low  the  law  might  fix  the  penalty,  for  instance, 
of  sheep-stealing,  (and  a  general  penalty  for  so  grave  an  offence  could 
hardly  be  fixed  at  a  lower  point  than  imprisonment  for  a  year,)  even 
that  lowest  general  penalty  would  be  too  severe  for  a  family  betrayed 
into  such  a  theft  by  the  dreadful  extremity  of  starvation,  and  yet  would 
then  be  incapable  of  mitigation  except  through  a  correspondence  with 
the  home  department  in  each  particular  case :  while  it  is  equally  ob- 
vious that  the  same  average  penalty  would  be  vastly  too  light  for  a 
systematic  depredator  on  the  flocks  of  his  neighbours.  Upon  such  a 
felon,  or  upon  the  horse-stealer  mentioned  in  the  succeeding  passage 
of  the  same  speech,  almost  any  amount  of  secondary  punishment  would 
be  fitly  inflicted.  With  regard  to  the  argument  that  the  prevention  of 
crime  depends  rather  on  the  certainty  of  the  punishment  than  on  its 
severity,  it  may  be  observed  that  punishment  unduly  severe  is  little 
likely  to  be  inflicted  in  the  temper  of  the  present  times  ;  and  that  the 
sort  of  certainty,  required  to  deter  offenders,  is  not  a  certainty  of  the 
precise  degree  of  punishment  annexed  to  each  act  of  criminality,  but  a 
certainty  that  every  criminal  will  be  overtaken  by  such  a  punishment 
as  (though  it  shall  not  exceed  apre-enacted  maximum)  shall  bear  some 
proportion  to  his  moral  guilt.  Indeed,  the  opposite  argument  would 
go  to  the  extent  of  excluding  the  royal  prerogative  of  mercy  in  all  cases, 
except  where  the  conviction  should  be  found  to  have  been  unwarranted 
by  the  evidence. 

The  6th  of  June  brought  under  the  notice  of  the  House  of  Lords 
certain  petitions  from  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics,  which  the  Earl  of 
Donoughmore,  on  that  day,  moved  to  refer  to  a  committee  of  the 
whole  House. 

The  lord  chancellor,  in  opposing  this  motion,  desired  to  know  what  its  supporters 
proposed  to  do,  in  the  committee  they  were  about  to  vote  for]  He  was  too  sensible 
of  the  blessings  of  the  civil  and  religious  liberty  enjoyed  in  this  country,  to  risk  them 
on  a  speculation  of  which  the  grounds  were  not  distinctly  laid.  From  the  expression 
of  these  opinions  he  was  not  to  be  deterred,  and  he  would  continue  his  support  to  the 
Protestant  Church  as  by  law  established,  although  that  adherence  might  bring  down 
upon  him,  from  some  quarters,  the  appellation  of  a  bigot.  He  did  not  mean  to  say 
that  propositions  might  not  be  brought  forward  by  the  Roman  Catholics  which  would 
deserve  the  most  earnest  attention.  But  when  the  Hfluse  was  asked  to  remove  the  bul- 
warks and  safeguards  of  the  constitution  established  in  1688,  by  that  Revolution  which 
seated  a  Protestant  sovereign  on  the  throne,  which  declared  that  all  his  successors 
should  be  Protestants,  and  which  established  a  Protestant  government,  civil  and  reli- 
gious, he  did  think  it  but  reasonable  to  inquire,  before  they  went  into  committee,  what 
was  to  be  substituted  in  the  room  of  that  which  it  was  thus  proposed  to  remove.  At 
present  the  House  did  not  know,  but  that  what  was  proposed  by  one  might  meet  the 
disapprobation  of  another;  nay,  they  knew  not  what  the  petitioners  themselves  might 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  339 

be  pleased  to  accept ;  and  were  they,  in  these  circumstances,  to  go  into  a  committee,  to 
consider  what  offer  they  should  make  to  persons  by  whom  all  practicable  proposals 
might  be  rejected!  For  himself,  in  or  out  of  a  committee,  he  could  never  consent  to 
grant  the  extent  of  privileges  demanded  in  the  prayer  of  these  petitions.  The  principle 
of  the  veto,  or  royal  negative,  on  the  appointment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  prelates,  had 
been  strongly  pressed  upon  the  Roman  Catholic  body  by  Lord  Grenville  in  his  letter 
to  Lord  Fingal.  That  letter  amounted  to  an  assertion  that  security  ought  to  be  taken 
against  the  danger  to  which  the  proposed  innovation  might  lead.  It  likewise  showed 
an  opinion  to  have  been  theretofore  entertained  by  the  supporters  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics, that  the  veto  would  be  conceded  when  the  desired  privileges  should  be  offered  on 
that  condition.  It  was  a  concession  which,  in  his  opinion,  amounted  to  absolutely 
nothing ;  but  what  would  have  been  the  consequence  if  the  House  had  gone  into  a  com- 
mittee under  the  impression  that  it  was  a  substantial  and  attainable  security?  Why, 
the  consequence  would  have  been,  that  their  lordships,  coming  out  of  the  committee, 
would  have  offered  to  the  Catholics  an  arrangement  which  the  Catholics,  as  it  turned 
out,  neither  would  nor  could  accept.  Consistently  with  the  conscientious  discharge 
of  what  they  regarded  as  their  religious  duty,  they  could  not  accept  those  terms;  and 
if  they  did.  they  would  be  worse  subjects  than  if  they  refused  them,  inasmuch  as  be- 
coming dishonest  men,  they  could  not  be  good  subjects.  He  begged  to  be  understood 
as  not  holding  the  notion  that  any  man  ought  to  be  incapacitated  from  civil  rights  by 
reason  of  religious  opinions;  the  enactments  against  the  Catholics  were  meant  to 
guard,  not  against  the  abstract  opinions  of  their  religion,  but  against  the  political 
dangers  of  a  faith  which  acknowledged  a  foreign  supremacy.  The  change  now  pro- 
posed was  in  direct  contradiction  to  what  their  ancestors  had  supposed  to  be  the  con- 
stitution :  whether  they  were  right  or  not  in  that  supposition  was  a  matter  which  he 
would  not  take  upon  him  to  decide.  It  was  a  change  which  would  not  only  affect  the 
Roman  Catholic  claims,  but  alter  every  religious  institution  in  the  country,  the  situ- 
aiion  of  the  Church  of  England  as  much  as  the  situation  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  He  would  not  go  darkly  into  a  committee,  where,  for  aught  he  knew,  propo- 
sitions might  be  made,  which,  if  effected,  might  in  a  few  months  bring  the  Protestants, 
instead  of  the  Catholics,  to  be  the  objects  of  the  noble  mover's  pity. 

The  majority  against  the  motion  was  154  to  68. 

Earl  Grey's  motion,  on  the  13th  of  the  same  month  of  June,  for  an 
address  to  the  crown  on  the  state  of  the  nation,  having  been  met  by 
Lord  Stanhope  with  an  amendment,  in  which  the  commitment  of  Sir 
Francis  Burdett  by  the  House  of  Commons,  for  a  contempt,  was 
brought  forward  as  a  prominent  subject  of  censure. 

The  chancellor,  in  answer  to  Lord  Erskine,  who  had  concurred  in  this  view,  shortly 
vindicated  the  right  of  either  House  of  Parliament  to  commit  for  contempts,  by  ana- 
logy to  attachments  for  contempts  against  the  courts  of  ordinary  jurisdiction — a 
description  of  process,  which,  he  said,  was  as  much  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  land  as 
the  trial  by  jury  itself. 

The  amendment  was  negatived  without  a  division,  and  the  original 
motion  rejected  by  a  majority  of  134  against  72. 

The  session  closed  on  the  21st  of  June,  with  a  speech  delivered 
by  the  lord  chancellor  in  his  majesty's  name.  The  debates  in  both 
Houses  of  Parliament  had  been  frequent  and  stormy:  the  ministry  felt 
that  they  possessed  but  little  of  the  public  confidence,  and,  indeed, 
they  were  retained  in  office  mainly  by  the  country's  experimental 
distrust  of  the  Whigs.  Some  efforts  were  made,  therefore,  in  the  au- 
tumn, to  strengthen  the  cabinet,  particularly  in  the  House  of  Commons: 
and  for  this  purpose  Mr.  Perceval  addressed  proposals  to  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh,  and  several  other  persons  of  consideration,  which,  however, 
produced  no  immediate  accession  of  strength.  Lord  Castlereagh's 
answer  was  communicated  by  Mr.  Perceval  to  the  chancellor  as  fol- 
lows :  — 


340  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"  My  dear  Lord, 

"The  following  is  a  copy  of  what  I  received  this  day  from  Castlereagh: — 
"'My  dear  Sir, 

"  'Having  protracted  my  journey  longer  than  I  had  intended,  I  did  not  receive 
your  letter  of  the  22d  ult.,  till  yesterday  on  my  landing. 

"'Desiring  to  express,  in  suitable  terms,  to  you  and  your  colleagues,  my  sense  of 
the  sentiments  you  are  pleased  to  express  towards  me  personally,  I  am  not  less  sen- 
sible of  your  attention  in  relieving  me,  by  the  mode  of  your  communication,  from  the 
necessity  of  declining,  in  any  more  formal  mariner,  a  proposition  which  it  is  con- 
ceived might  contribute  to  the  advantage  of  his  majesty's  service. 

"'It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  trouble  you  with  the  considerations,  in  detail,  which 
suggest  themselves  to  me  upon  the  reasoning  which  you  have  taken  the  trouble  so 
fully  and  candidly  to  open.  It  is  enough  that  I  should  express  my  own  firm  persua- 
sion that  an  arrangement  of  the  nature  you  propose  (even  were  all  the  obstacles  to 
the  cordial  consolidation  of  the  arrangement  itself  successfully  surmounted)  could 
not  command  the  public  confidence,  or  inspire  the  nation  at  the  present  moment  with 
an  impression,  that  the  administration,  intrusted  with  the  management  of  affairs,  was 
really  united  within  itself. 

"'Under  these  impressions,  (I  trust  not  inconsiderately  formed,  or  resulting  from 
any  unbecoming  feelings  of  a  personal  nature,)  IAneed  hardly  add,  that  were  the  offer 
in  question  made  to  me,  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  hesitate  in  soliciting  his 
majesty's  gracious  permission  dutifully  to  decline  it. 

" '  Believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 

"'Very  faithfully  yours,  &c. 

" '  (Signed)         CASTLEREAGH.' 

"I  must  confess  the  above  is  much  what  I  expected  it  to  be — and  so  ends  our  nego- 
tiation— and  the  consequence,  I  trust,  will  be,  that  we  shall  all  be  determined  to  do 
the  best  we  can  to  stand  firmly  and  unitedly  by  ourselves,  when  we  find  we  cannot 
mend  matters. 

"  Yours  most  truly, 

"Sp.  PERCEYAL. 
"Downing  Street,  Sept.  8th,  1810." 

Among  Lord  Eldon's  papers  is  a  letter  addressed  to  him  in  Sep- 
tember, 1810,  by  Sir  Vicary  Gibbs,  then  attorney-general.  The  fol- 
lowing extract  from  it  is  remarkable,  with  reference  to  the  justification 
which  recent  events  in  the  Canadas  have  given  to  the  opinions  it 
expresses :  — 

"  I  was  prevented,  by  a  mistake,  from  meeting  you  at  your  consultation  upon  the 
perplexing  state  of  affairs  in  Lower  Canada.  We  may  drive  it  off  to  a  session  after 
the  next,  but  at  last  it  will  lead  to  a  very  troublesome  discussion.  I  have  read  an 
account  of  the  progress  of  the  bill  which  gave  them  that  constitution,  in  the  Annual 
Register  for  1791,  and  it  contains  a  curious  detail  of  the  history  and  motives  of  the 
opposition  to  it.  At  present  it  seems  to  operate  practically  in  support  of  a  French 
interest,  and  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  I  see  no  possibility  of  giving  it  in 
its  present  form  a  different  direction.  To  restore  the  constitution  of  1774  would  not, 
I  think,  be  borne.  To  re-unite  the  two  provinces  would  be  difficult;  and,  without  a 
great  alteration  in  the  proportion  of  representatives,  would  hardly  be  effectual  if  it 
were  carried.  Their  legislature  now  bears  the  form  of  a  British  Parliament,  with  a 
French  House  of  Commons— than  which  nothing  can  be  worse." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  341 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
1810—1811. 

Permanent  illness  of  George  III.:  meeting  of  Parliament:  letter  of  the  queen  to 
LordEldon:  deliberations  of  Parliament  on  the  mode  of  supplying  the  executive 
powers:  struggle  of  parties :  ministerial  plan  for  investing  the  Prince  of  Wales 
with  a  restricted  regency:  remonstrance  of  the  royal  dukes:  letter  of  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland  to  Lord  Eldon:  fiscal  difficulty  in  default  of  sign  manual. — Admissi- 
bility  of  proxies  in  committees  of  the  House  of  Lords. — Offer  of  regency  accepted 
by  the  prince. — Commission  for  the  regular  opening  of  the  session. — Proposal  for 
committing  the  control  of  the  royal  household  to  the  queen :  attack  of  Lord  Grey 
upon  Lord  Eldon :  Lord  Eldon's  vindication  of  himself  and  of  that  proposal : 
debate  on  period  for  cessation  of  restrictions :  further  discussions  on  lord  chan- 
cellor's conduct:  royal  assent,  by  commission,  to  the  Regency  Bill. — Letters  of 
Lord  Eldon  to  Mr.  Perceval  and  to  Sir  William  Scott. 

THE  clouds  which  had  so  often  cast  a  temporary  shade  upon  the 
intellect  of  the  sovereign  were  now  gathering  into  deep  and  settled 
darkness.  The  immediate  cause  of  distress  to  his  mind  was  the  pro- 
tracted suffering  of  his  youngest  daughter,  the  Princess  Amelia,  whose 
death  took  place  on  the  2d  of  November,  1810.  It  had  been  notified 
that  the  meeting  of  the  Parliament,  appointed  by  prorogation  for  the 
1st  day  of  that  month,  would  be  postponed  to  the  29th  by  the  usual 
commission  under  the  great  seal ;  but  before  the  1st  of  November  had 
arrived,  the  king  had  become  so  much  disordered  that  his  ministers 
did  not  think  themselves  warranted  in  taking  his  signature  to  such 
a  commission.  On  the  1st  of  November,  therefore,  both  Houses 
assembled. 

As  soon  as  the  Lords  were  met,  the  lord  chancellor  addressed  them. 
He  stated  the  circumstances  under  which  they  then  attended,  and 
informed  them,  with  expressions  of  deep  regret,  that,  in  consequence 
of  his  majesty's  personal  indisposition,  the  commission  had  not  re- 
ceived the  royal  signature.  There  might  be  a  question,  he  said, 
whether  the  commission  would  not  have  been  legal  if  issued  under 
the  great  seal  without  the  authority  of  the  sign  manual ;  but  into  that 
subject  he  would  not  enter.  It  would  be  for  the  House  to  determine 
its  own  course  of  proceeding. 

The  House,  approving  the  lord  chancellor's  forbearance  to  affix  the 
great  seal  to  a  commission  under  such  circumstances,  and  participating 
in  the  hope  which,  in  that  early  stage  of  the  indisposition,  was  gene- 
rally entertained  by  the  king's  medical  and  other  attendants,  of  a 
speedy  recovery,  adjourned  till  the  15th;  and  the  same  course  was 
taken  by  the  House  of  Commons. 

The  natural  good  feeling  and  discretion  of  Lord  Eldon  had  enabled 


342  LIFE  OF  LORD 

him,  in  each  recurring  instance  of  his  majesty's  illness,  to  conduct 
the  business  connected  with  it  in  such  a  manner  as  not  only  to  pro- 
tect the  political  and  public  interests  in  his  care,  but  to  give  the  most 
perfect  satisfaction,  in  all  intervals  and  returns  of  reason,  to  the  illus- 
trious sufferer  himself,  and  throughout,  to  his  royal  consort.  The 
acknowledgments  of  Queen  Charlotte,  under  this  renewal  of  affliction, 
were  thus  conveyed  to  him,  and  through  him  to  two  of  his  colleagues, 
on  the  day  after  the  meeting  of  Parliament :  — 

(  Queen  Charlotte  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"  Windsor,  Nov.  2d.  1810. 

"The  queen  feels,  more  than  she  has  words  to  express,  the  attention  shown  her  by 
the  lord  chancellor  and  his  colleagues,  in  making  an  excuse  for  not  calling  upon  her 
yesterday.  She  is  perfectly  sensible  that  the  subject  it  related  to  would  have  been 
equally  painful  to  both  parties;  and  is  highly  sensible  of  the  delicacy  of  the  conduct 
of  the  lord  chancellor,  Marquis  of  Wellesley  and  Mr.  Ryder,  to  whom  she  begs  her 
compliments. 

"Our  domestic  misfortunes  are  truly  severe,  but  I  trust  Providence  will  carry  us 
through. 

"  CHAHLOTTE." 

On  the  15th,  the  lord  chancellor  began  the  business  of  the  House 
of  Lords,  by  repeating  what  he  had  stated  on  the  1st  of  the  month; 
and  added,  that  the  physicians  now  considered  the  king's  health  to 
be  progressively  improving.  He  proposed  to  their  lordships,  there- 
fore, a  further  adjournment  of  fourteen  days;  to  which,  after  some 
discussion  upon  the  question  of  precedent,  the  House  agreed.  When 
they  met  again  on  the  29th,  a  report  from  the  privy  council  was  laid 
on  the  table,  containing  the  examinations  of  the  king's  physicians : 
and  Lord  Liverpool,  relying  on  the  continued  appearances  of  con- 
valescence, and  on  the  expectation  which  the  physicians  held  out  of 
a  speedy  recovery,  moved  an  adjournment  for  yet  another  fortnight. 
Earl  Spencer  thereupon  proposed  a  select  committee,  to  examine  the 
physicians  and  report  to  the  House ;  which  amendment  was  supported 
by  Lords  Holland  and  Grenville,  with  a  declared  view  to  some  speedy 
arrangement  for  supplying  the  deficiency  of  the  executive  powers. 

The  lord  chancellor  opposed  the  amendment,  on  the  ground  that,  while  there 
remained  a  prospect  of  the  king's  early  recovery,  it  was  not  desirable  to  alter  the 
constitution  of  the  kingdom,  by  transferring  the  royal  functions  to  any  other  hands. 
Their  lordships  would  bear  in  mind  that  the  monarchy  of  these  realms  was  a  heredi- 
tary one;  that  the  king  was  king  not  only  in  vigorous  manhood  and  health,  but  in 
infancy,  in  old  age  and  in  sickness;  and  that  to  remove  the  kingly  power  into  other 
hands,  was  to  make  such  an  inroad  on  its  character  and  very  essence  as  could  never 
be  warranted  nor  excused  but  by  a  clear  and  permanent  necessity.  His  majesty,  when 
recovered,  would  doubtless  be  competent,  should  it  be  his  pleasure,  to  concur  in  a 
legislative  act  for  establishing  a  lieutenant,  or  a  restricted  regent,  or  any  other  officer 
whose  appointment  might  meet  any  future  emergency.  This  was  no  time  for  treat- 
ing the  monarchical  principle  with  disrespect.  Heaven  forbid  that  he  should  repre- 
sent the  privy  council  as  possessing  the  right  or  the  power  to  adjudicate  upon  the 
capability  of  the  king;  their  report  (which  had  just  been  laid  on  the  table,)  undoubt- 
edly would  not  give  information  which  ought  to  be  conclusive  upon  the  House,  but  it 
would  give  the  House  a  ground  on  which  to  found  its  own  proceedings.  The  sole 
consideration,  for  the  present,  was  whether  the  House  would  pause  for  a  little  while, 
or  go  at  once  into  the  important  duty  proposed  to  it.  For  himself,  he  thought  it  right 
to  do  no  more  than  the  evil  of  the  day  required.  It  was  only  the  necessity  of  the 
case  which  gave  10  the  House  any  right  of  interposing  at  all ;  and  it  was  of  the  very 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  343 

essence  of  that  necessity  that  the  time  chosen  for  so  interposing  should  be  the 
proper  and  correct  one. 

A  majority  of  88  against  56  decided  for  an  adjournment  to  the  13th 
of  December. 

When  the  House  reassembled  on  that  day,  the  state  of  the  king's 
health  was  not  sufficiently  improved  to  justify,  in  the  opinion  of  his 
ministers,  any  further  adjournment.  Lord  Liverpool,  therefore,  moved 
for  a  committee  to  examine  his  majesty's  physicians,  the  report  of 
which  committee  was  presented  on  the  20th. 

The  contest,  which  now  began  respecting  the  devolution  of  the 
royal  functions,  was  animated  by  the  same  spirit  of  party  which  had 
marked  the  proceedings  respecting  the  regency  in  1788.  The  Whig 
opposition,  on  both  occasions,  placed  a  confident  hope  in  the  favour- 
able disposition  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  toward  their  views,  political 
and  personal ;  and  on  both  occasions,  therefore,  they  keenly  con- 
tended for  investing  him,  at  the  earliest  moment,  with  the  most  ex- 
tensive powers.  The  ministry,  on  the  other  hand,  no  less  under  Mr. 
Perceval  than  under  Mr.  Pitt,  had  a  strong  interest  to  delay  as  long 
as  possible  the  appointment  of  a  regent  who  would  probably  dispos- 
sess them  of  office,  and  to  confine  his  authority  within  the  narrowest 
limits.  Mr.  Perceval,  however,  enjoyed  an  advantage  which  Mr. 
Pitt  had  not — the  advantage  of  the  very  precedent  which  Mr.  Pitt's 
struggle  had  established ;  and  certainly  there  can  be  no  circumstances 
in  which  a  constitutional  precedent  has  more  value  than  when  it  thus 
steps  in  to  fix  what  has  been  suddenly  thrown  loose,  and  impose  some 
definite  law  upon  parties  who  would  otherwise  be  squaring  their 
morality  by  their  passions.  There  were,  moreover,  among  Mr.  Per- 
ceval's opponents,  some  men  of  considerable  weight,  who,  like  Lord 
Grenville,  had,  by  their  personal  co-operation  with  Mr.  Pitt  in  the 
measures  of  1788,  precluded  themselves  from  condemning  the  like 
measures  in  1810.  All  these  advantages  Mr.  Perceval  perceived  and 
profited  by.  He  shaped  his  course  almost  exactly  by  that  of  his  pre- 
decessor, beginning  with  three  resolutions  in  nearly  the  same  form 
of  words  which  Parliament  had  adopted  in  1788.  The  first  affirmed 
the  simple  fact  that  the  personal  exercise  of  the  royal  authority  was 
suspended  by  his  majesty's  indisposition.  The  second  declared  it 
to  be  the  right  and  duty  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  to  provide  the 
means  for  supplying  this  defect  as  the  exigency  of  the  case  might 
require :  and  the  third  stated  it  to  be  necessary  that  the  Lords  and 
Commons  should  determine  on  the  means  whereby  the  royal  assent 
might  be  given  to  bills,  respecting  the  powers  to  be  exercised  in  the 
king's  name  and  behalf  during  his  illness. 

These  three  resolutions  having  been  carried  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, were  transmitted  to  the  House  of  Lords,  where  they  stood  for 
consideration  on  the  27th  of  December.  On  that  day,  before  they 
were  discussed,  Lord  Carlisle  adverted  to  the  testimony  of  the  physi- 
cians, as  contained  in  the  report  of  the  Lords'  committee,  contending 
that  it  was  not  evidence  warranting  the  bulletins  issued  on  several 
days  of  the  preceding  month ;  but,  as  he  made  no  specific  motion, 


344  LIFE  OF  LORD 

the  House  proceeded,  on  the  recommendation  of  Lord  Liverpool,  to 
consider  the  resolutions.  The  first  two  were  affirmed  without  divi- 
sion and  without  much  discussion.  On  the  third,  it  was  moved  by 
Lord  Holland  as  an  amendment,  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  should  be 
requested,  by  address,  to  take  upon  him  the  powers  of  the  crown  in 
the  king's  name,  during  the  king's  present  indisposition,  and  no 
longer ;  such  address  to  be  accompanied  with  an  intimation  that  the 
exercises  of  any  powers  not  called  into  action  by  the  immediate  exi- 
gences of  the  state,  should  be  forborne,  until  a  bill  or  bills  should 
have  passed  for  the  settlement  of  the  whole  matter. 

The  lord  chancellor,  observing  that,  in  1788-9,  as  now,  all  parties  in  Parliament 
were  agreed  upon  the  fitness  of  conferring  a  sole  regency  on  the  Prince  of  Wai*, 
declared  his  adherence  to  the  opinion  which  he  had  then  expressed,  that  a  bill  to  con- 
fer that  power  upon  the  prince  was  a  fitter  course  than  an  address  to  the  prince  to 
"take  upon  himself  that  power.  He  used  the  word  parliament,  because,  notwithstand- 
ing all  which  had  been  said  by  those  who  denominated  the  two  Houses,-under  their 
present  circumstances,  a  mere  convention  of  the  estates,  it  was  his  decided  opinion 
that  they  were  properly  a  parliament.  They  had  been  prorogued  under  that  title  by 
his  majesty,  who  had  directed  them  to  reassemble  on  a  certain  day ;  and  on  that  day, 
and  under  that  title,  they  had  reassembled  in  obedience  to  his  command.  It  had  been 
objected  that  to  proceed  by  way  of  legislation  involved  a  fiction,  the  assent  of  the 
crown ;  but  if  legal  fictions  were  not  to  be  endured,  the  whole  course  of  judicial  ad- 
ministration must  be  suspended,  and  the  private  property  of  every  man  who  heard 
him  might  be  placed  in  jeopardy.  The  courts,  however,  continued  to  discharge  their 
functions,  and  properly  so,  because  the  law  could  look  only  at  the  political  capacity 
of  the  crown :  any  natural  or  temporary  incapacity  was  matter  of  which  the  law 
could  not  take  cognizance.  He  relied  on  several  historical  analogies  which  he  speci- 
fied, and  above  all  on  the  precedent  established  in  1788-9.  The  precedent  of  the  Revo- 
lution in  1688  did  not  apply,  because  there  the  royal  office  was  to  be  declared  vacant, 
— while  here  that  office  remained  full,  and  the  only  business  was  to  provide  a  person 
who  should  supply  the  temporary  interruption  of  its  authority.  The  ministers  had 
been  accused  of  arrogant  usurpation,  because  they  continued  to  execute  the  duties 
of  their  offices.  Was  it  meant  that  during  the  delay  which  the  adjournment  had  sanc- 
tioned, the  functions  of  the  government  were  to  be  stopped?  He  hoped  that  the 
country  would  give  credit  to  the  ministry  for  having,  in  a  most  difficult  crisis,  con- 
ducted themselves  with  the  best  intentions.  God  help  the  man  who  had  an  eye  to  the 
situation  of  any  one  of  them.  They  were  told  that  they  possessed  no  talent,  no  judg- 
ment, no  qualifications  entitling  them  to  be  entrusted  with  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 
But  before  such  a  censure  were  passed  upon  them  by  the  House,  he  hoped  their  lord- 
ships would  look  back  to  the  precedents  set  by  statesmen  well  entitled  to  confidence 
and  admiration.  For  himself  he  would  say,  that  as  the  great  seal  had  been  entrusted 
to  him  by  his  sovereign,  he  would  not  give  it  up  till  he  knew  that  some  one  was 
legally  appointed  to  take  it  from  his  hands. 

The  amendment  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  100  to  74,  and  the 
original  question  carried  without  a  further  division.  The  resolutions 
having  been  adopted  by  both  Houses,  and  agreed  to  in  a  conference 
between  them,  it  became  necessary  to  define  the  powers  with  which 
the  regent  was  to  be  entrusted :  and,  in  the  further  resolutions  pre- 
pared for  that  purpose,  the  outline  of  the  former  precedent  was  again 
pursued  by  ministers,  but  with  some  variation  of  the  details.  The 
first  of  these  resolutions  declared  the  sense  of  the  committee, — that 
the  Prince  of  Wales  should  be  empowered  to  exercise  the  royal 
authority  in  the  king's  name  and  under  the  title  of  regent,  subject  to 
such  limitations  and  restrictions  as  should  be  provided :  that  his  power 
should  not  extend  to  the  grant  of  any  peerage,  except  for  some  naval 
or  military  achievement :  that  it  should  not  extend  to  the  grant  of  any 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  345 

office,  in  reversion,  or  otherwise  than  during  pleasure,  except  such  as 
are  by  law  required  to  be  granted  for  life  or  during  good  behaviour: 
that  the  royal  property,  not  already  vested  in  trustees,  should  be  vested 
in  trustees  for  his  majesty's  benefit:  that  the  care  of  the  king's  person 
should  be  committed  to  the  queen,  who  should  have  power  of  nomi- 
nating to  and  removing  from  the  several  offices  of  the  household :  and 
that  a  council  should  be  appointed  to  advise  and  assist  her,  with 
authority,  from  time  to  time,  to  examine  his  majesty's  physicians  and 
other  attendants.  The  last  proposition,  it  will  presently  be  seen, 
received  important  alterations  in  its  progress. 

These  restrictions,  of  which  the  plan  had  been  communicated  to 
the  prince,  were  exceedingly  unpalatable  to  his  royal  highness.  He 
endeavoured  to  relieve  himself  from  them  by  every  means  within  his 
reach,  and  particularly  by  a  most  remarkable  remonstrance  from  the 
male  branches  of  the  royal  family.  This  document,  (of  which  a  copy 
was  found  among  Lord  Eldon's  papers,  enclosed  in  an  envelope  with 
a  few  lines  from  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  present  King  of  Hano- 
ver,) appears  obviously,  though  it  bears  no  address,  to  have  been  a 
communication  to  Mr.  Perceval. 

(Copy.)  "  Carlton  House,  19ih  Dec.  1810, 12  o'clock,  p.  M. 

"Sir, 

"The  Prince  of  Wales  having  assembled  the  whole  of  the  male  branches  of  the 
royal  family,  and  having  communicated  to  us  the  plan  intended  to  be  proposed  by  his 
majesty's  confidential  servants  to  the  Lords  and  Commons  for  the  establishment  of  a 
restricted  regency,  should  the  continuance  of  his  majesty's  ever-to-be-lamented  illness 
render  it  necessary;  we  feel  it  a  duty  we  owe  to  his  majesty,  our  country  and  our- 
selves, to  enter  our  solemn  protest  against  measures  that  we  consider  as  perfectly 
unconstitutional  as  they  are  contrary  to,  and  subversive  of,  the  principles  that  seated 
our  family  upon  the  throne  of  these  realms. 

"FREDERICK  (Duke  of  York). 

"  WILLIAM  ( Clarence). 

'  EDWARD  ( Kent). 

'ERNEST  ( Cumberland). 

•AUGUSTUS  FREDERICK  ( Sussex). 

'ADOLPHUS  FREDERICK  ( Cambridge). 

'  WILLIAM  FREDERICK"  ( Gloucester). 

The  very  kind  and  gracious  note  from  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  to 
Lord  Eldon,  which  contained  the  foregoing  enclosure,  was  in  these 
words : 

"  Thursday,  (Dec.  20th.) 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  cannot,  without  feeling  the  greatest  regret,  enclose  to  you  a  paper  signed,  as  you 
will  see,  by  ALL  of  us:  not  from  its  contents  being  contrary  to  the  bearings  of  my  mind, 
which  has,  God  knows,  been  occupied  for  some  time  upon  this  unfortunate  calamity, 
but  from  there  appearing  a  difference  of  opinion  between  yourself  and  myself;  and  I 
believe  you  cannot  doubt,  if  ever  one  man  is  sincerely  attached  to  another  from  hay- 
ing the  highest  veneration,  esteem,  and,  I  may  add,  a  sort  of  filial  love,  that  man  is 
myself,  and  it  is,  therefore,  a  most  painful  task  for  me  to  differ  on  this  occasion;  but  I 
hope  and  trust  that  this  will  be  the  only  time.  For  the  hurry  and  bad  writing  of  this 
note  excuse  me,  but  I  am  anxious  you  should  receive  this  as  early  as  possible. 

"  Believe  me, 

"Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  ERNEST." 

When  the   resolutions  were  opened  by  Lord  Liverpool  in  the 


346  LIFE  OF  LORD 

House  of  Lords  on  the  4th  of  January,  1811,  the  Marquis  of  Lans- 
downe  moved  an  amendment,  whereof  the  object  was  to  expunge  the 
words  "subject  to  such  limitations  and  restrictions  as  shall  be  pro- 
vided." 

This  amendment  was  combated  by  the  lord  chancellor,  who  enumerated  the  regen- 
cies constituted  since  the  Revolution,  each  of  which  he  showed  to  have  been  limited 
by  restrictions:  and  he  adverted  to  an  opinion  once  expressed  by  Lord  Thurlow  from 
the  woolsack,  that  the  office  of  regent  was  one  with  which  the  common  law  of  this 
realm  was  unacquainted,  and  which  had  its  existence  only  as  a  creation  by  statute. 
Since  a  regent,  therefore,  by  the  very  constitution  of  his  office  must  owe  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  two  Houses,  it  was  obvious  that  the  two  Houses  had  the  power  to  measure 
and  limit  the  authority  thus  emanating  solely  from  themselves.  He  felt,  too,  that,  as 
the  subject  of  a  monarch,  who  himself  was  limited  in  his  authority  by  the  law,  he  was 
entitled,  and  bound,  by  his  seat  in  that  House,  to  discuss  the  propriety  of  limiting  any 
temporary  trust  of  the  executive  power.  He  was  sure  that  not  a  man  among  their 
lordships,  that  not  an  English  heart  in  the  country,  would  fail  to  appreciate  the  diffi- 
culties of  this  moment,  or  to  sympathize  in  the  melancholy  cause  of  them:  and  all 
must  be  anxious  so  to  regulate  the  authority  about  to  be  delegated,  that  the  circum- 
stances, which  the  sovereign  would  find  existing  at  the  period  of  his  recovery,  should 
be  such  as  might  not  infringe  the  united  obligations  of  public  principle  and  of  private 
feeling.  Now  what  would  have  been  the  result,  if,  in  1789,  iheir  lordships  had  acted 
in  the  manner  now  recommended  on  the  other  side,  and  had  surrendered  to  a  regent 
the  unfettered  exercise  of  all  the  royal  prerogatives  ?  What  would  have  been  the  effect 
on  his  majesty's  mind,  at  his  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  his  position  1  If  the  two 
Houses  had  then  so  alienated  the  appropriate  functions  of  the  crown,  he  was  bold 
enough  to  say  that  the  effect  must  have  been  to  impede  the  resumption  of  the  royal 
authority.  Until  the  occurrence  of  the  present  question,  the  complaint  on  the  other 
side  had  been,  that  the  powers  of  the  crown  were  too  great,  and  that  its  influence  had 
become  too  extensive;  but  now,  on  a  sudden,  the  doctrine  was  that  the  royal  autho- 
rity could  not  be  left  too  large.  He  could  not  deem  it  fitting  that  a  principle  should 
at  this  day  be  set  up  subversive  of  that  which  was  established  in  1788-9,  especially 
as  a  speedy  restoration  appeared  now  a  much  more  probable  event  than  when  the  for- 
mer regency  bill  was  under  the  consideration  of  the  House.  If  the  king's  health  had 
been  now  in  the  state  in  which  it  was  in  1789,  would  not  their  lordships  have  much 
less  sanguine  hope  than  at  present  of  its  early  re-establishment?  And  yet,  even  in. 
1789,  the  Parliament  having  been  opened  on  the  20th  of  February  under  the  autho- 
rity of  the  great  seal,  the  two  Houses,  on  the  10th  of  March,  were  apprised  of  his  ma- 
jesty's happy  recovery. 

Lord  Lansdowne's  amendment  was  carried  against  ministers  in  the 
committee,  by  a  majority  of  105  against  102:  but  on  the  report,  this 
resolution  was  restored  to  its  original  form.  The  fifth  resolution, 
however,  was  passed  and  eventually  reported  by  both  Houses  in  a 
shape  materially  differing  from  that  in  which  ministers  had  proposed 
it.  Instead  of  enabling  the  queen  to  nominate  to,  and  remove  from, 
the  several  offices  of  the  household,  it  limited  her  authority  in  that 
department  to  "the  sole  direction  of  such  portion  of  his  majesty's 
household  as  should  be  deemed  requisite  and  suitable  for  the  due 
attendance  on  his  majesty's  sacred  person  and  the  maintenance  of  his 
royal  dignity." 

This  last  amendment  was  an  intelligible  indication  that  the  two 
Houses  of  Parliament  were  preparing  to  favour  the  wishes  and  views 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales  :  and  the  policy  of  the  ministers,  therefore,  was 
obviously  to  gain  time,  and  take  the  longest  possible  chance  for  the 
king's  recovery,  to  which  the  physicians  were  still  looking  with  con- 
siderable confidence. 

Meanwhile  there  arose  a  practical  impediment  of  an  unexpected 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  347 

kind.  Certain  sums  had  been  appropriated  by  Parliament  to  naval 
and  military  services;  but  the  Exchequer  Act  required  that  the  issue 
of  public  money  for  them  should  be  under  the  privy  seal,  or  under 
the  great  seal,  or  under  an  act  of  Parliament.  An  act  of  Parliament 
was  prevented  by  the  circumstances  of  the  time :  the  great  seal  had 
never  been  used  to  authorize  an  issue  except  for  civil  purposes :  and 
the  clerk  of  the  privy  seal  was  of  opinion  that  his  oath  of  office 
precluded  him  from  passing  the  necessary  letters  of  privy  seal,  (the 
document  to  which  the  privy  seal  is  affixed  by  the  lord  keeper  there- 
of,) without  the  usual  docket,  certifying  a  previous  warrant  under 
the  king's  sign  manual.  The  lords  of  the  treasury  having  issued  a 
warrant  of  their  own  to  Lord  Grenville,  the  auditor  of  the  exchequer, 
requiring  him  to  draw  an  order  for  payment  of  the  money,  he  declined 
to  comply  with  it  for  want  of  the  authority  prescribed  by  the  Exche- 
quer Act :  and  suggested  that  the  only  power  constitutionally  compe- 
tent to  relieve  the  difficulty,  was  that  of  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament, 
who  had  declared  that  it  was  their  right  and  duty  "  to  provide  the 
means  of  supplying  the  defect  of  the  personal  exercise  of  the  royal 
authority,"  according  to  the  exigency  of  the  case. 

Mr.  Perceval,  in  this  difficulty,  applied  for  and  obtained,  after  some 
debate,  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Commons,  authorizing  the  audi- 
tor and  officers  of  the  exchequer  to  pay  such  sums  as  the  treasury 
warrants  might,  from  time  to  time,  direct.  Lord  Liverpool,  on  the 
following  day,  the  5th  of  January,  moved  for  the  concurrence  of  the 
Upper  House  in  this  resolution :  to  which  Lord  Grenville,  asserting 
the  uprightness  of  his  motives,  consented,  on  the  principle  of  obviat- 
ing any  impediment  to  the  public  service ;  but  declared  his  opinion 
that  the  conduct  of  ministers  had  been  most  injurious  to  the  country, 
and  that,  but  for  that  conduct,  there  might  have  been  an  executive 
government  so  established  that  this  difficulty  could  not  have  arisen. 

The  lord  chancellor  expressed  himself  ready  to  do  justice  to  Lord  Grenville's 
motives.  He  admitted  that  officers  in  such  situations  as  that  of  auditor  of  the  exche- 
quer were  to  be  guided  by  different  considerations  from  (hose  which,  under  special 
circumstances,  must  regulate  the  conduct  of  ministers  of  state.  The  present  ques- 
tion was  merely  whether  the  House  should  direct  an  issue  of  money,  for  which  a 
necessity  had  been  declared  to  exist.  How  that  necessity  had  arisen  was  a  distinct 
question,  which  would  be  fully  open  to  discussion,  when  the  time  should  arrive  for  a 
general  review  of  the  conduct  of  ministers  in  these  transactions.  It  had  appeared 
to  him  that  for  such  services  as  those  for  which  this  money  was  required,  the  issue 
ought  not  to  be  under  the  great  seal.  The  privy  seal,  in  his  opinion,  might  have  been 
employed,  and  the  lord  keeper  of  it,  he  believed,  would  not  have  refused;  but  then 
arose  the  difficulty  with  the  clerks;  and  thus  the  application  to  the  two  Houses  had 
become  indispensable. 

The  resolution  passed,  though  not  without  a  protest  from  a  num- 
ber of  peers,  including  all  the  royal  dukes,  on  the  ground  that  the 
principle  of  such  a  resolution  went  to  justify  the  assumption  of  all  the 
executive  powers  of  the  crown  by  the  two  Houses,  during  any  sus- 
pension of  the  personal  exercise  of  the  royal  authority. 

During  the  before-mentioned  discussions  in  the  House  of  Lords 
respecting  the  resolution  for  the  regulation  of  the  household,  and 


348  LIFE  OF  LORD 

before  the  appointment  of  the  regent,  a  question,  touching  the  extent 
of  the  right  of  proxy,  had  given  rise  to  some  keen  debate.  Although, 
in  committees  of  the  House  of  Lords,  no  votes  are  taken  but  of  peers 
actually  present,  yet  in  the  proceedings  on  the  report,  which  is  a  re- 
vision by  the  House  of  what  has  been  done  in  committee,  the  general 
rule  obtains,  and  the  proxies  are  admitted  as  on  other  occasions.  But  in 
this  particular  case  it  was  contended  that  proxies  were  inadmissible, 
on  the  ground  that  the  Peers  were  now  assembled,  not  as  a  House  of 
Parliament,  but  as  one  of  the  estates  of  the  realm.  The  lord  chan- 
cellor was  strongly  opposed  to  this  doctrine  ;  arid  in  order  to  the  set- 
tlement of  the  question,  he  brought  it  before  the  House  on  the  23d  of 
January,  1811,  in  a  series  of  resolutions,  purporting  that  on  any  ques- 
tion finally*  put  upon  any  business  in  the  House  of  Lords  when  assem- 
bled under  the  king's  commission,  whether  the  Parliament  should  have 
been  opened  or  not,  proxies  should  be  counted,  unless  where  there 
should  be  a  standing  order  to  the  contrary,  or  unless  where  the  House 
should  have  determined  otherwise  on  a  motion  made  antecedently  to 
the  vote  on  the  main  question :  and  that  proxies  should  be  counted  in 
any  such  antecedent  motion  for  excluding  proxies,  and  in  any  vote 
upon  the  previous  question  whether  the  motion  for  excluding  proxies 
should  be  put  or  not. 

In  support  of  these  resolutions,  the  lord  chancellor  expressed  his  anxiety  to  pre- 
vent the  establishment  of  a  precedent,  by  which  the  Peers  of  England  might  be 
divided  into  two  bodies,  those  personally  present,  and  those  personally  absent,  in  con- 
tradiction to  the  constitutional  usage  by  which  all  the  lords  personally  absent  had  the 
right  of  being  present  by  their  proxies.  In  whatever  way  the  usage  of  voting  by 
proxy  might  be  considered,  it  ought  to  be  upheld:  if  as  a  privilege,  there  was  no 
reason  why  their  lordships  should  surrender  it;  if  as  a  duty,  they  ought  not  to  betray 
it.  He  entered  into  some  historical  details  to  show  the  uniform  usage  of  voting  by 
proxy,  and  particularly  instanced  the  period  of  1660,  when  proxies  were  entered, 
before  the  causes  for  the  meeting  of  Parliament  had  been  declared  by  the  king  in 
person  or  by  commission, — in  other  words,  before  the  Parliament  had  been  opened. 
He  protested  against  the  doctrine  that  the  House,  when  it  met  on  the  first  of  the  pre- 
ceding November,  was  assembled  in  any  other  character  than  that  of  a  House  of 
Parliament.  It  assembled,  under  a  regular  prorogation  of  Parliament  to  that  day, 
and,  assembling  as  a  House  of  Parliament,  possessed  all  the  privileges  which  be- 
longed to  it  as  such,  and,  among  the  rest,  the  right  of  proxy. 

Lord  Moira  opposed  the  resolutions,  and  moved  an  adjournment : 
which,  after  a  debate  terminating  with  a  short  reply  from  the  lord 
chancellor,  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  two. 

In  the  course  of  this  discussion,  Lord  Stanhope  had  assailed  the 
lord  chancellor  and  Lord  Redesdale,  with  a  levity  not  suitable  to  the 
character  of  the  dignified  assembly  he  addressed.  The  chancellor, 
in  his  reply,  requested  the  House  to  consider  carefully  whether  the 
very  speech  of  the  noble  earl  against  proxies  did  not  indicate  that, 
with  reference  to  their  lordships'  dignity  and  the  decorum  of  their 
proceedings,  it  might  sometimes  be  even  more  eligible  to  take  thev 
sense  of  the  House  by  proxy  than  in  person. 

In  the  following  week  the  addresses  of  both  Houses  were  presented 
to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  signified  his  intention  to  accept  the 

*  In  Hansard's  Debates,  the  word  is  "finally:"  in  the  Journals,  "fully." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  349 

regency,  when  it  should  be  conferred  upon  him,  even  with  the  re- 
strictions ;  after  which,  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  both  Houses, 
the  great  seal  was  affixed  by  the  lord  chancellor  to  a  commission  for 
opening  the  Parliament,  and  under  it  the  Parliament  was  opened  on 
the  15th  of  January.  The  Regency  Bill  was  on  the  same  day  intro- 
duced into  the  House  of  Commons,  whence  it  was  sent  up,  on  the 
23d  of  January,  to  the  Lords.  Here,  on  the  25th,  in  the  committee, 
a  great  struggle  took  place  on  the  clause  relating  to  the  household. 
The  bill,  as  passed  by  the  Commons,  had  reverted  to  the  principle  of 
the  fifth  of  the  preliminary  resolutions,  as  originally  proposed  on  the 
part  of  ministers,  by  placing  in  the  hands  of  the  queen  the  appoint- 
ment and  control  of  the  chief  household  officers ;  which  alteration  may 
probably  have  been  owing  to  an  opinion  then  prevalent  that  the  king's 
health  was  rapidly  improving.  On  this  clause,  when  discussed  in 
committee  of  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  moved 
an  amendment,  proposing  to  defer  the  arrangements  respecting  the 
household  until  after  the  regency  should  have  been  constituted.  Lord 
Liverpool  opposed  that  amendment,  and  was  followed  by  Lord  Grey, 
who  directed  his  animadversions  in  an  especial  manner  against  the 
lord  chancellor. 

The  effect  (said  Lord  Grey)  of  the  enactment,  in  its  present  shape,  would  be,  to 
give  the  queen  about  forty-seven  appointments,  and  the  regent  only  two.  This  was 
not  the  fair  interpretation  of  the  preliminary  resolution,  which  had  limited  the  queen's 
authority  to  such  portion  of  the  household  "as  should  be  deemed  requisite  and  suita- 
ble for  the  due  attendance  on  his  majesty's  sacred  person  and  the  maintenance  of  his 
royal  dignity."  The  noble  and  learned  lord,  he  believed,  was  actuated  by  conscien- 
tious feelings ;  the  frequency  of  his  appeal  to  those  feelings  was  evidence  of  their 
sincerity,  and  he  besought  him,  therefore,  to  indulge  the  same  honourable  sentiment 
in  the  discharge  of  his  political,  as  he  was  proverbially  accustomed  to  do  in  his  legal 
and  judicial  functions.  Suppose  the  case  (and  he  put  it  directly  to  the  noble  and 
learned  lord,  who  had  high  judicial  duties  to  perform  in  another  place),  of  a  person 
deceased,  by  whose  will  a  portion  of  the  estate  was  directed  to  be  applied  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  aged  widow,  while  the  remainder  was  to  devolve  to  the  eldest  son,  for  the 
general  purposes  of  maintaining  himself  and  the  members  of  the  family  in  the  rank 
and  station  to  which  they  belonged.  Would  the  noble  and  learned  lord  interpret  the 
intention  of  the  testator  to  be,  that  forty-seven  shares  (for  that  was  the  proportion  of  the 
household  to  be  given  to  the  queen)  should  belong  to  the  widow,  and  two  to  the  heirl 
With  respect  to  that  part  of  the  bill  which  provided  for  the  resumption  of  the  royal 
authority  upon  his  majesty's  recovery,  he  would  say  that  no  one, — not  even  any  of 
the  noble  lords  on  the  other  side  of  the  House, — would  more  sincerely  rejoice  at  the 
arrival  of  that  period  than  himself;  but  he  must  have  other  authority  for  the  fact  of 
such  recovery  than  the  mere  putting  of  the  great  seal  to  a  commission  in  his  ma- 
jesty's name.  Considering  what  had  taken  place  on  two  former  occasions,  when  it 
was  notorious  that  the  great  seal  had  been  employed, as  if  by  his  majesty's  command, 
at  a  time  when  he  was  under  the  care  and  actual  restraint  of  a  physician,  for  a 
malady  similar  to  that  by  which  he  was  now  afflicted,  the  noble  and  learned  lord 
must  excuse  him  for  saying  there  must  be  better  authority  produced  than  his  declara- 
tion for  his  majesty's  recovery.  Nothing  short  of  an  examination  of  the  physicians 
by  their  lordships  could  afford  that  proof  of  it  which  would  satisfy  his  mind.  He 
would  vote  for  the  amendment  proposed  by  his  noble  friend. 

The  lord  chancellor  now  rose  with  evident  emotion. 

The  allusions  of  the  noble  earl  (he  said)  were  so  marked,  that  he  could  not 
suppress  the  feeling  they  had  excited,  nor  omit  to  take  the  earliest  opportunity  of 
answering  them:  and  he  trusted,  therefore,  that  the  committee  would  pardon  him  for 
trespassing  on  their  attention.  If  he  had  occasionally  referred  to  the  rule  of  his  own 
conscience,  it  was  because  that  was  the  rule  by  which,  from  the  outset  of  his  public 


350  LIFE  OF  LORD 

life  to  the  present  hour,  he  had  endeavoured  to  regulate  his  conduct.  Confident  in  the 
probity  of  his  intentions,  and  assured  of  the  integrity  with  which  he  had  laboured  to 
perform  his  official  duties  both  to  the  sovereign  and  the  public,  he  would  now  repeat 
that  he  not  only  did  not  decline,  but  distinctly  challenged,  the  strictest  inquiry  into  his 
conduct.  Nor  would  he  scruple  to  declare,  that  no  fear,  no  influence  of  any  kind, 
should  deter  him  from  doing  again  what  he  had  already  done,  if  he  conceived  it 
necessary  to  the  interests  of  the  king  his  master,  or  of  the  country  at  large.  Of  his 
majesty  he  never  could  speak  without  gratitude  for  the  favours,  the  obligations,  the 
king  had  heaped  upon  him ;  nor  think,  without  the  acutest  sensibility,  of  that  unhappy 
malady  by  which  his  sovereign  was  oppressed.  Reports  of  physicians  should  not 
operate,  nor  threats  within  or  without  the  doors  of  that  House,  to  prevent  him  from 
exercising  his  own  judgment  in  whatever  regarded  the  interests  of  his  royal  master. 
Rather  than  desert  his  allegiance  by  shrinking  from  any  step  pointed  out  to  him  by 
his  duty  and  his  office,  he  would  bear  to  perish  ignominiously  on  the  scaffold.  In. 
every  case  which  might  arise,  he  would  act  upon  his  official  responsibility,  and  con- 
tent himself  with  leaving  the  consequences  to  Heaven.  In  what  he  had  done  upon 
the  occasion  alluded  to  by  the  noble  earl,  he  had  pursued,  under  the  solemn  obligation 
of  an  oath,  the  course  which  his  judgment  prescribed  to  him.  He  felt  himself,  there- 
fore, superior  to  the  uncalled-for  imputation  of  the  noble  earl;  and  until  his  country 
should  tell  him  he  had  done  wrong,  he  should  rest  satisfied  with  his  own  conduct  in. 
that  matter.  No  man  was  entitled  to  charge  him  with  a  criminal  act.  He  had  long 
and  faithfully  served  a  most  gracious  master,  at  the  most  critical  moment  this  country 
had  ever  known;  he  had  received,  in  the  measures  he  had  taken  to  suppress  the 
societies  framed  for  the  subversion  of  the  government,  the  full  co-operation  of  some 
noble  lords  opposite,  while  other  noble  lords  now  sitting  side  by  side  with  them  were 
decrying,  obstructing  and  ridiculing  those  measures;  which,  strong  as  they  were, 
would  yet,  he  believed,  had  they  stood  alone,  have  failed  to  produce  the  good  effects 
•which  followed  from  them,— it  being  his  conscientious  persuasion  that,  at  that  mo- 
mentous period,  nothing  could  have  saved  the  monarchy  but  the  value  of  the  sove- 
reign's personal  character,  and  the  almost  universal  love  and  reverence  of  the  people 
for  the  possessor  of  the  throne.  Into  the  transactions  of  1801  and  1804,  he  would 
again  say  that  he  challenged  the  strictest  inquiry.  The  opinions  of  physicians,  though 
entitled  to  great  attention,  were  not  to  bind  him  absolutely;  he  must  act,  and  he  had 
always  acted,  on  his  oath  and  to  the  best  of  his  own  judgment:  charges,  therefore,  and 
menaces  were  indifferent  to  him.  "Let  them  come,  (continued  he);  I  am  ready  to 
encounter  them;  impavidum  ferient.  To  the  daily  scandal  poured  out  against  me,  I 
•will  not  condescend  to  reply;  nor  will  I  ask  of  the  noble  lord  to  trust  me.  I  have  been 
attacked  and  reviled,  but  1  disregard  it.  Actions  which  I  have  never  done  have  been 
imputed  to  me,  and  actions  which  I  have  done  have  been  swollen  and  distorted  by 
misrepresentation  and  calumny.  In  the  newspapers,  I  may  read  to-morrow,  as  I  have 
often  read  before,  sentiments  and  expressions  attributed  to  me  of  which  I  am  totally 
unconscious;  but  all  this  lean  view  without  pain.  I  never  refer  to  those  diurnal 
publications,  without  discovering  errors  and  misrepresentations  as  to  myself;  but  the 
consciousness  of  rectitude  and  integrity  is  sufficient  to  sustain  my  equanimity.  I  have 
been  significantly  asked,  whether  I  would  supersede  a  commission  of  lunacy  against 
the  opinion  of  physicians.  I  have  often  done  so.  Perhaps  I  may  have  been  wrong  in 
so  doing,  but  again,  I  repeat,  I  have  acted  on  my  conscience. 

"With  respect  to  the  clause  now  tinder  consideration,  I  will  say,  using  an  expres- 
sion which  I  borrow  from  one  well  skilled  in  the  science  of  human  nature,  that  I 
know  not  how 'to  disquantity*  the  train' of  my  royal  master.  I  am  asked  what  I 
would  do  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  if  the  present  clause  came  before  me,  in  connection 
•with  the  resolution  on  which  it  is  founded  1  I  answer,  that  the  resolution  is  not  of  such 
certainty  that  a  court  could  deal  with  it  at  all.  But  I  will  ask  a  question  in  my  turn, 
and  it  is  this:  Are  there  any  two  of  the  noble  lords  on  the  other  side  of  the  House, 
who  are  agreed  in  their  own  view  of  what  the  resolution  prescribes]  I  have  heard 
of  several  plans,— four  or  five  at  the  least— all  of  which  are  at  variance.  If  I  am 
asked  my  own  view,  I  say  that  I  deem  the  whole  of  the  household  to  be  '  requisite  and 
suitable  for  the  due  attendance  on  his  majesty's  sacred  person,  and  the  maintenance 
of  his  royal  dignity:'  those  are  the  words  of  the  resolution,— and  therefore,  according 
to  the  principle  of  that  resolution,  the  whole  of  the  household  ought,  in  my  sincere 
opinion,  to  be  in  the  gift  of  her  majesty.  In  saying  this,  I  speak  with  the  same  tender 
regard  to  conscience  as  if  I  were  acting  in  a  judicial  capacity.  I  will  tell  this  House, 

*  King  Lear,  Act  I.  Scene  4. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  351 

— I  will  tell  every  man  who  hears  me, — I  will  tell  all  his  majesty's  subjects, — that  the 
last  thing  I  would  do,  in  the  court  in  which  I  sit,  would  be  to  remove  from  any  man, 
labouring  under  an  affliction  such  as  has  unhappily  befallen  his  majesty,  the  comforts 
which  become  his  condition  and  to  which  he  has  been  accustomed.  For  myself,  let 
me  but  see  my  sovereign  well,  and  then  let  me  depart  in  peace.  I  cannot  take  my 
heart  out  of  my  breast,  and  forget  that  my  most  gracious  master  is  a  man.  Let  those 
who  can  do  so,  do  it.  I  am  not  made  of  such  impenetrable  stuff;  I  have  neither  the 
nerve  nor  the  apathy  requisite  for  such  stern  and  unrelenting  duty.  Until  his  ma- 
jesty shall  vacate  his  throne  by  descending  into  his  grave,  to  no  other  person  shall  I 
acknowledge  myself  a  subject. 

"  Before  I  sit  down,  I  must  make  my  solemn  protest  against  the  principle  upon 
which  the  proposed  distribution  of  the  household  patronage  is  argued;  as  if  the 
government  of  this  country  could  not  be  carried  on,  except  upon  a  system  the  most 
unconstitutional,  the  most  degrading,  and  I  will  even  say  the  most  Jacobinical,  that 
was  ever  suggested  by  the  most  inveterate  enemies  of  the  constitution.  What?  Are 
your  lordships  to  be  told  that  no  master  of  the  horse,  no  groom  to  the  stole,  no  lord 
steward  of  the  household,  has  the  least  consideration  for  the  country,  but  that  their 
votes  in  this  House  will  be  controlled  and  directed  by  those,  to  whom  they  owe  their 
respective  appointments!  If  this  be  the  case,  I  have  got,  at  the  end  of  my  life,  into 
such  company  as  I  never  was  placed  in  at  the  beginning  of  it.  But  I  cannot  believe 
that  the  noble  persons  about  me, — the  descendants  of  those  whose  virtues  and  talents 
adorn  the  history  of  this  great  country, — can  be  influenced  by  the  unworthy  motives 
thus  ascribed  to  them. 

"As  to  the  amendment  proposed  by  the  noble  marquis,  I  do  entirely  disapprove  it. 
So  much  so,  indeed,  that  if  every  one  of  your  lordships  were  to  go  below  the  bar  to 
vote  for  it,  I  should  feel  it  the  proudest  act  of  my  life  to  stand  alone,  and  record  my 
loyalty  to  my  sovereign  by  voting  against  it.  And  I  put  it  to  you  as  men,  whether 
you  can  consent  to  an  arrangement  so  humiliating  to  your  sovereign,  as  that  which 
must  be  the  result  of  such  an  amendment. 

"The  regent,  to  be  sure,  will  be  subject  to  restrictions;  but  the  king  himself,  in  this 
country,  is  a  limited  monarch.  His  majesty,  whatever  his  mental  state,  must  be  king 
until  he  descends  into  the  grave.  I  can  never  discharge  it  from  my  recollection  that 
the  committee  has  two  objects  to  accomplish:  it  has  to  provide  for  the  stability  and 
security  of  the  government;  but  it  has  also  to  provide  for  the  safe  and  efiectual 
resumption  of  the  royal  functions  on  the  part  of  his  majesty,  whenever  his  recovery 
shall  be  fully  ascertained.  I  feel  the  importance  of  the  former  consideration;  but  I 
feel,  also,  that,  in  taking  care  for  his  majesty's  restoration  to  his  government,  we  are 
providing  in  the  most  effectual  manner  for  the  true  interests  and  for  the  ultimate 
security  of  the  state.  Your  lordships,  therefore,  should  not  diminish  the  splendour  that 
surrounds  his  majesty,  but  preserve  it  in  all  its  plenitude.  I  remember,  and  with  a 
satisfaction  which  will  terminate  only  with  my  life,  the  part  which  I  took  in  the  dis- 
cussions of  1789:  I  will  act  on  the  same  principles  now.  My  conduct  on  that  occa- 
sion obtained  for  me  the  approbation  of  my  gracious  master,  as  I  trust  will  my  con- 
duct in  the  present  crisis.  I  have  no  reason  to  change  the  opinion  which  I  gave  in  a 
former  debate  respecting  the  probabilities  of  his  recovery.  Far  from  it:  for,  in  ad- 
dition to  what  I  then  said,  I  have  now  the  satisfaction  of  acquainting  the  House,  that 
his  actual  state  gives  increased  expectations  of  that  happy  result." 

Lord  Eldon  concluded  this  speech,  which  he  delivered  throughout  with  peculiar 
solemnity,  by  declaring  that  at  such  a  period  as  the  present,  he  was  incapable  of  en- 
tertaining any  interested  views,  and  by  repeating  his  regard  and  veneration  for  the 
king,  and  his  intention  to  oppose  the  amendment. 

The  amendment,  however,  was  carried  by  107  against  98. 

When  the  report  of  the  committee  was  brought  up  on  the  28th  of 
January,  1811,  a  discussion  arose  on  the  clause  for  terminating  the 
restrictions  on  the  1st  of  February,  1812.  Lord  Grenville  proposed 
as  an  amendment,  that  they  should  cease  on  the  1st  of  August,  1811. 

The  lord  chancellor  thought  it  an  irresistible  reason  against  the  cessation  of  the 
restrictions  in  August,  that  Parliament  would  not  then  be  assembled.  It  was  of  the 
greatest  importance  that  both  Houses  should  be  sitting  when  the  bill  now  under  con- 
sideration should  expire.  He  took  this  opportunity  to  repeat  his  denial  of  the  charge 
with  which  he  had  been  assailed  on  a  former  evening.  There  were  many  noble  lords 


352  LIFE  OF  LORD 

now  present,  who  well  knew  how  complete  a  justification  he  possessed  against  all  the 
accusations  aimed  at  him.  Nay,  some  of  those  who  had  formed  part  of  an  adminis- 
tration with  him,  and  who  had  acted  with  him  then  sat  now  on  the  bench  with  his 
accusers,  and  were,  and  must  be,  convinced  that  all  he  said  in  his  own  vindication 
was  strictly  true.  "  What  I  did,"  continued  Lord  Eldon,  "I  did  with  the  concurrence 
and  with  the  approbation  of  all  my  colleagues,  but  I  would  have  done  it,  even  had  I 
differed  from  every  man  among  them.  Nay,  I  say  that  acting  conscientiously,  so  help 
me  God,  I  could  not  have  done  otherwise  than  I  did.  Whilst  I  have  the  approbation 
of  my  own  conscience,  I  am  ready  to  incur  every  risk,  and  submit  to  all  the  respon- 
sibility to  which  I  am  exposed  by  the  faithful  discharge  of  my  duty.  But  what,  I  will 
ask,  is  the  nature  of  the  crime  imputed  to  me?  Why,  that  on  the  occasions  in  ques- 
tion, I  acted  in  obedience  to  his  majesty's  commands.  What  would  the  noble  earl 
(Lord  Grey)  have  thought  of  my  conduct,  if  I  had  refused  compliance]  What  kind 
of  crime  would  the  noble  lord  have  held  me  guilty  of,  if  I  had  dared  to  disobey  the 
positive  commands  of  the  sovereign]  I  acted  then  upon  my  conscience,  and  to  the 
best  of  my  judgment:  my  rule  of  conduct  is  the  same  on  this  occasion.  I  will  act  on 
my  oath,  in  despite  of  the  opposition  of  the  whole  world.  It  is  my  opinion,  so  help  me 
God,  that  there  is  a  most  material  amendment  in  his  majesty.  It  is  little  more  than 
forty-eight  hours  since  I  had  an  opportunity  of  ascertaining  this  improvement;  and  I 
trust  in  God  that  my  gracious  master  will  live  many  years,  to  be,  as  he  has  always 
been,  the  benefactor  of  his  subjects." 

Earl  Grey,  in  answering  this  speech,  made  the  following  observa- 
tions on  the  statement  and  conduct  of  the  lord  chancellor. 

In  performing  what  I  conceive  to  be  my  duty  to  your  lordships  and  to  my  country, 
lam  bound  to  arraign  the  noble  lord  for  an  offence  little  short  of  high  treason.  In 
bringing  this  accusation  against  the  noble  and  learned  lord,  I  will  not  conceal  that  it 
is  my  intention  to  deal  as  severely  with  him  as  I  possibly  can;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
as  justly  as  the  importance  of  the  question  and  the  solemnity  of  the  case  require. — 
The  rigid  and  impartial  line  of  public  duty  I  shall  strictly  observe  towards  the  noble 
lord,  determined  that  neither  his  agitation  nor  his  fears  shall  deter  me  from  arraign- 
ing him,  if  I  shall  find  that  he  has  been  guilty  of  what  I  cannot  but  consider  all  but 
treason.  The  noble  and  learned  lord  asks,  What  is  the  designation  of  that  crime 
which  a  public  servant  would  commit  in  refusing  to  obey  the  just  commands  of  his 
sovereign  1  I  acknowledge  that  would  be  treason  to  the  sovereign;  but  with  my  an- 
swer to  that  appeal,  I  beg  leave  to  couple  another  question :  What,  I  ask,  would  be 
the  character,  what  the  appropriate  punishment  of  his  offence,  who,  knowing  his 
sovereign  to  be  actually  at  the  time  incompetent, — who,  in  the  full  conviction  of  his 
notorious  and  avowed  incapacity,  and  whilst  he  was  under  medical  care  and  personal 
restraint, — should  come  here  and  declare  that  there  was  no  necessary  suspension  of 
the  royal  functions; — who,  under  such  circumstances,  should,  in  his  majesty's  name, 
and  under  the  pretext  of  his  majesty's  commands,  put  the  royal  seal  to  acts  which 
could  not  be  legal  without  his  majesty's  full  and  complete  acquiescence  1  What,  I 
ask,  would  be  the  crime  of  that  man  who  should  venture  to  take  such  a  course?  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  his  offence  to  be  treason  against  the  constitution  and 
the  country. 

With  respect  to  the  conduct  of  the  noble  and  learned  lord  on  those  former  occa- 
sions to  which  I  before  alluded,  it  is  now  in  evidence  before  your  lordships,  that,  as 
well  in  the  year  1801  as  1804,  the  king's  name  had  been  used  to  public  acts,  and  the 
royal  authority  exercised,  at  a  time  when,  according  to  the  evidence, his  majesty  was 
personally  incapable  of  exercising  his  royal  functions.  His  majesty's  malady  began 
about  the  12th  of  February,  1801,  and  continued  without  remission  till  the  beginning 
of  March.  Your  lordships  will  recollect  that  councils  had  been  held,  and  members 
sworn  in,  during  that  interval.  The  foreign  relations  of  the  country,  too,  had  under- 
gone a  material  change  in  that  period.  Sweden,  which  had  been  our  ally,  assumed 
a  hostile  aspect,  and  acceded  to  the  northern  confederacy ;  and  even  considerable 
expeditions  were  equipped  and  sent  out.  Subsequent  to  that  date,  too,  about  the  17th 
of  March,  another  council  was  held  and  members  sworn  of  it.  Here  I  must  beg  the 
attention  of  your  lordships  to  the  circumstance,  that  about  the  14th  or  15th  of  June 
following,  even  after  he  had  been  declared  to  be  fully  recovered,  his  majesty  had  a 
relapse,  which,  though  it  did  not  last  long,  required  the  aid  of  attendance.  All  this 
took  place  in  1801.  In  1804  I  was  a  member  of  the  other  House,  and,  from  the 
anxiety  felt  by  the  public  upon  the  subject,  considered  it  my  duty  to  put  a  question  to 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  353 

the  noble  viscount  on  the  cross  bench  (Sidmouth,)  then  a  member  of  the  other  House, 
respecting  the  state  of  his  majesty's  health;  and  though  my  noble  friend  at  first  en- 
deavoured to  shift  and  evade  the  question,  upon  being  pressed,  he  ended  with  saying, 
that  there  was  no  necessary  suspension  of  the  royal  functions.  To  a  similar  question 
put  in  this  House,  the  nobie  lord  upon  the  woolsack  returned  a  similar  declaration. 
Certainly  the  noble  lord  opposite  (Lord  Liverpool)  had  made  such  a  declaration,  and 
that  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  the  noble  lord  on  the  woolsack,  in  this  House. — 
Now,  by  referring  to  the  evidence  of  Dr.  Heberden,  your  lordships  will  find,  that  at 
that  very  period  his  majesty  had  been  ill,  and  continued  in  that  state  from  the  12th  of 
February,  1804,  to  the  23d  of  April  following,  when,  I  believe,  he  presided  at  a  coun- 
cil— a  circumstance  which  most  probably  was  considered  as  sufficient  proof  that  his 
majesty  was  well  enough  to  resume  his  royal  authority.  Within  that  interval,  viz., 
on  the  9th  of  March,  a  commission  was  issued  under  his  majesty's  great  seal,  for 
giving  the  royal  assent  to  fifteen  different  bills  which  had  passed  the  two  Houses. — 
But  still  more — the  noble  and  learned  lord  had,  on  the  5th  of  March,  an  interview 
with  his  majesty,  in  consequence  of  which  he  felt  himself  warranted  in  declaring  to 
your  lordships,  that  his  majesty's  intellects  were  sound  and  unimpaired.  But  will 
this  House  consider  a  hasty  opinion,  formed  during  such  an  interview,  which  may 
have  taken  place  at  a  lucid  interval,  sufficient  to  outweigh  the  evidence,  upon  oath, 
of  physicians  regularly  and  constantly  in  attendance  1  Will  you  not,  on  the  contrary, 
be  convinced  that  it  would  be  a  direct  breach  of  the  constitution,  for  the  highest  officer 
in  his  majesty's  service  to  venture,  under  such  circumstances,  even  during  a  lucid 
interval,  to  take  his  majesty's  pleasure  upon  high  matters  of  state  ?  I  will  put  it 
even  to  the  noble  and  learned  lord  himself,  whether,  in  the  case  of  a  private  indi- 
vidual, who  should  have  continued,  from  the  12th  of  February  to  the  23d  of  April,  in 
a  state  of  lunacy,  and  might,  within  that  period,  have  been  induced  by  an  attorney  to 
make  a  will,  that  noble  lord  would  consider  such  a  will  valid?  If  the  transaction 
should  subsequently  be  submitted  to  the  Court  of  Chancery,  what  would  be  the  feel- 
ings of  the  court  ?  what  its  just  reprobation  of  the  conduct  of  the  attorney  1 

The  charge,  therefore,  which  I  have  to  make  upon  the  noble  lords  before  your  lord- 
ships,  and  in  the  face  of  the  country,  is  this,— that  they  have  culpably  made  use  of 
the  king's  name  without  the  king's  sanction,  and  criminally  exercised  the  royal  func- 
tions, when  the  sovereign  was  labouring  under  a  moral  incapacity  to  authorize  such 
a  proceeding;  and  with  such  a  transaction  in  your  view,  I  will  ask  your  lordships 
•whether  you  will  suffer  this  bill  to  pass  without  making  effectual  provision  to  prevent 
the  recurrence  of  similar  circumstances, — whether,  if  you  should  omit  to  make  such 
provision,  you  will  perform  your  duty  to  the  public,  whose  interests  you  are  Jxiund 
solemnly  to  secure  and  to  protect!  In  the  evidence  of  Dr.  Reynolds  it  appears,  that 
when  the  king  removed  to  Kew,  in  1804,  he  had  himself  ceased  to  attend  him,— and 
for  this  reason,  that  it  would  have  a  better  appearance  to  the  public.  It  was  also 
apparent  from  the  evidence,  that  his  majesty  was  then,  and  till  October  continued  to 
be,  in  such  a  state  as  to  require  medical  attendance.  I  am  prepared  also  to  assert, 
and  challenge  the  noble  lord  to  deny  the  fact,  that  Dr.  Simmons  and  his  attendant; 
had  not  only  been  in  attendance,  but  exercised  control  over  his  majesty,  until  the  10th 
of  June.  For  my  own  part,  I  shall  never  consent  to  suffer  a  lord  chancellor,  a  lord 
keeper,  or  any  man,  or  set  of  men,  however  great  or  distinguished,  to  possess  himself 
or  themselves  of  the  royal  authority  under  such  circumstances,  and  exercise  the 
functions  of  the  sovereign. 

After  several  other  peers  had  been  heard,  Lord  Sidmouth  made  a 
plain  statement  to  the  House,  in  which  he  declared,  for  himself  and 
his  colleagues  in  1804,  that  they  were  prepared  to  justify  their  con- 
duct in  every  point;  that  he  was  ready  to  answer  for  them  all,  and 
more  particularly  for  the  noble  and  learned  lord.  The  Duke  of 
Gloucester  spoke  shortly  for  the  amendment ;  and  then  Lord  Moira, 
at  some  length,  but  with  less  asperity  than  Lord  Grey,  renewed  the 
charges  against  the  lord  chancellor;  who,  thus  again  attacked,  said, 

He  coald  not  forbear  to  observe  how  unfair  it  was  to  select  him  individually  from 
the  ministers  of  1801  and  1804,  and  make  him  the  constant  object  of  atla 
should  have  done  him  the  justice  to  state  that  the  course  then  adopts 
opinion,  not  of  himself  individually,  but  of  the  administration  generally;  upon 
VOL.  i. — 23 


354  LIFE  OF  LORD 

unanimous  opinion,  he  was  proud  to  say,  of  many  great  and  honourable  men  with 
whom  he  then  acted.  He  thought  he  could  satisfy  any  candid  man  of  the  propriety 
of  his  conduct  both  in  1801  and  in  1804.  In  1801  he  had  not  been  a  member  of  the 
government  till  the  14th  of  April,  when  he  had  accepted  the  seals  in  circumstances 
•wherein  he  could  have  no  motive  for  it  but  the  commands  of  his  majesty;  and  after 
the  14th  of  April,  he  knew  of  no  act  done  which  would  fall  within  the  objection  ad- 
vanced on  the  other  side.  "In  1804,"  continued  Lord  Eldon,  "several  distinguished 
noblemen,  now  present  among  your  lordships,  were  members  of  the  cabinet :  one  of 
them  was  a  noble  lord  opposite  (Earl  St.  Vincent),  who  was  then  first  lord  of  the 
admiralty,  and  who,  after  being  present  at  the  examination  of  the  physicians,  con- 
curred with  the  rest  of  the  cabinet  in  the  conduct  then  pursued.  The  physicians 
having  all  been  agreed  that  on  the  9th  of  March,  his  majesty  was  fully  competent  to 
do  the  act  which  they  had  advised  him  to  perform,  the  question  now  is,  whether, 
under  that  medical  authority,  I  was  right  in  doing  what  I  did  for  the  transaction  of 
most  important  business,  or  whether  I  ought  to  have  left  the  country  to  shift  for  itself. 
If  I  had  entertained  the  smallest  doubt  of  his  majesty's  competency  to  direct  a  com- 
mission for  giving  the  royal  assent  to  the  bills  which  then  awaited  that  sanction,  I 
should  have  done  one  of  two  things:  either  I  should  have  taken  upon  myself  to  affix 
the  great  seal  to  that  commission  and  have  applied  to  Parliament  for  an  indemnity, 
or  I  should  have  come  to  the  House  and  made  the  same  declaration  as  on  the  1st  of 
November,  1810.  And,  even  if  the  evidence  of  the  physicians  had  been  less  decided 
than  it  was,  I  assert  it  to  be  most  important  to  the  sovereign, that  a  chancellor  be  not 
wholly  determined  by  medical  opinions,  so  as  to  suspend  the  royal  authority  where 
he  himself  thinks  the  king  fully  competent  to  exercise  it.  It  does  not  follow,  because 
the  physicians  all  concurred  in  the  acts  then  done,  that  I  am  guilty  of  any  inconsist- 
ency in  saying  now,  that,  whatever  might  be  the  report  of  the  king's  physicians,  I 
•would  not  consent,  on  that  mere  report,  to  dethrone  his  majesty,  while  I  myself,  in  my 
judgment  and  conscience,  believed  the  king  adequate  to  the  discharge  of  the  royal 
functions.  I  must  be  permitted  to  state  that  the  great  man  who  was  then  at  the  head 
of  the  administration  (Mr.  Pitt)  afterwards  expressed  some  surprise,  when  he  found 
that  it  had  been  my  fixed  resolution  never  to  see  his  majesty,  at  any  time  when  he  could 
be  considered  under  the  control  of  others  or  in  presence  of  any  persons  who  might  be 
considered  as  exercising  any  control  over  him.  My  interviews  with,  his  majesty  at  that 
time  were  always  in  the  absence  of  such  persons,-  and  it  was  my  firm  conviction  that  I 
was  warranted  in  the  course  that  was  then  adopted.  I  knew  the  dangers  of  this  pro- 
ceeding, but  I  knew  my  duty,  too,  and  had  determined  to  see  my  sovereign  and  judge 
of  his  complaint,  when  he  was  as  free  from  restraint  as  any  of  his  subjects  whom  it 
has  been  my  painful  duty  to  examine  under  similar  circumstances.  This  was  very 
hazardous  to  myself;  but  I  did  my  duty  without  being  deterred  by  fear  of  conse- 
quences. His  majesty,  on  the  9th  of  March,  understood  the  duty  which  I  had  to 
perform  better  than  I  did  myself;  this  I  believe  I  can  prove.*  If  I  had  acted  wrong, 
it  was  with  the  best  intentions,  and  those  would  acquit  me  in  the  sight  of  God,  if  not 
in  the  opinion  of  my  country." 

Earl  Grey  rejoined,  that  the  constitution  of  this  country  always  selects  for  respon- 
sibility the  individual  minister  who  does  any  particular  act;  and  it  was  upon  this 
ground  that  he  had  singled  out  the  lord  chancellor  from  the  rest  of  his  colleagues 
upon  a  question  of  affixing  the  great  seal.  For  this  he  was  individually  responsible. 
The  constitution  knew  nothing  of  the  committee  called  a  cabinet.  Every  individual 
minister  was  responsible  for  his  own  conduct.  If  ever  the  time  should  come  when 
it  might  be  thought  necessary  to  call  the  serious  attention  of  the  House  to  the  con- 
duct of  the  noble  and  learned  lord,  the  House  must  determine  simply  on  the  propriety 
of  his  conduct,  and  not  upon  the  purity  of  his  intentions,  or  the  coincidence  of  other 
people  with  his  opinions.  As  to  the  statement  of  the  noble  and  learned  lord  about 
his  never  visiting  his  majesty  in  the  presence  of  persons  under  whose  control  he 
might  be  supposed  to  be,  he  should  only  observe  that  it  was  not  the  removal  of  the 
persons  appointed  to  control  his  majesty  from  the  room  in  which  he  saw  his  chan- 
cellor— it  was  not  their  removal  from  an  ante-chamber — that  would  justify  a  minister 
in  acting  as  the  noble  and  learned  lord  had  done.  The  absence  of  all  idea  of  control 
from  his  mind  was  necessary,  before  the  chancellor  could  have,  in  his  name,  exer- 
cised the  royal  authority,  and  adopted  a  line  of  conduct  which,  in  this  case,  he  could 

*  See  above,  March  9th,  1804,  extract  from  the  Anecdote  Book,  Chap.  XVIII.,  and 
Lord  Eldon's  account  of  his  explanations  with  Mr.  Pitt,  respecting  the  real  circum- 
stances of  the  communication  between  the  king  and  himself,  Chap.  XIX. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  355 

consider  as  nothing  less  than  usurpation.  It  appeared  from  the  evidence,  that  from 
the  12th  of  February  up  to  the  23d  of  April,  and  even  so  late  as  the  10th  of  June,  in 
that  year,  his  majesty  had  been  attended  by  Dr.  Simmons  and  his  servants,  who  did 
exercise  a  control  over  the  mind  of  his  majesty.  He  did  not  mean  to  say  that  this 
control  was  constantly  exerted,  or  that  those  persons  were  present  when  the  sove- 
reign was  visited  by  the  noble  and  learned  lord;  but  there  was  a  knowledge  in  the 
king's  mind  that  those  persons  were  in  attendance,  and  could  be  brought  forward  lo 
control  him  whenever  it  might  be  judged  necessary.  If  such  had  been  the  circum- 
stances in  a  former  case,  he  should  now  call  upon  their  lordships,  as  peers  of  the 
realm,  as  hereditary  guardians  of  the  constitution  and  of  the  liberties  of  the  people, 
not  to  suffer  this  usurpation  to  pass,  without  taking  effectual  measures  to  prevent 
the  recurrence  of  such  conduct  in  future.  On  the  7th  of  May,  1804,  at  the  time  his 
majesty  was  thus  under  control,  the  union  of  the  two  great  political  rivals  (Mr.  Fox 
and  Mr.  Pitt)  had  been  in  contemplation,  but  had  been  prevented.  This,  too,  was  a 
subject  for  serious  consideration. 

The  lord  chancellor  again  rose,  and  strongly  denied  this  last  alle- 
gation also.* 

Lord  Grenville's  amendment  was  negatived  by  139  against  122, 
and  the  clause,  as  originally  framed  by  ministers,  was  carried  by  139 
against  124. 

On  the  clause  appointing  the  queen's  council, — 

Lord  King  moved  the  omission  of  Lord  Eldon's  name.  This  proposal  he  grounded 
on  the  evidence  given  by  the  king's  physicians,  that  in  1804,  his  majesty's  illness  had 
continued  from  the  12th  of  February  to  the  23d  of  April,  in  which  interval  the  great 
seal  was  affixed  to  two  commissions,  one  dated  the  9th  and  one  the  23d  of  March: 
and  that  the  lord  chancellor  had  also  signified  the  royal  assent  to  the  Duke  of  York's 
Estate  Bill,  being  a  public  bill  affecting  the  interests  of  the  crown.  He  said  that  the 
noble  and  learned  lord,  having  thus,  in  consequence  of  his  own  erroneous  view  and 
strong  bias,  been  instrumental  to  deceive  the  House  and  the  country,  in  1804,  was  an 
improper  person  to  be  placed  on  the  queen's  council,  because,  if  appointed  to  a  seat 
in  it,  he,  from  his  high  station  and  legal  character,  would  be  the  party  to  decide  on 
the  competence  of  the  sovereign.  Lord  King  then  desired  that  there  should  be  read 
the  commissions  of  the  9th  and  23d  of  March,  and  the  evidence  of  Dr.  Heberden 
before  the  Lords'  committee. 

The  Earls  of  Buckinghamshire  and  Westmoreland  contended  for 
the  retention  of  Lord  Eldon's  name  in  the  list  of  the  council,  and  took 
to  themselves  their  share  in  the  responsibility  of  the  government  of 
1804,  of  which  they  both  had  been  members.  Lord  Redesdale  spoke 
on  the  same  side ;  and  after  a  few  words  from  Earl  Grey  and  Lord 
Lauderdale,  the  motion  of  Lord  King  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of 
139  against  54.  A  protest  was  entered  by  Earl  Grey  and  several 
other  peers  against  the  rejection  of  Lord  King's  motion. f 

Some  amendments,  made  in  the  bill  by  the  Lords,  were  agreed  to 
by  the  Commons,  who  brought  it  back  to  the  Upper  House  on  the  1st 
of  February.  Lord  Liverpool  moved  on  the  2d,  that  a  commission 
should  issue  under  the  great  seal  for  giving  the  royal  assent  to  the 
Regency  Bill.  This  resolution  having,  after  some  discussion  in  each 
of  the  two  Houses,  been  carried  in  both,  the  royal  assent  was  accord- 
ingly given  to  the  bill  by  the  lord  chancellor  and  other  commissioners 
on  the  5th  of  February. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Perceval, 
of  which  the  draft  was  found  in  Lord  Eldon's  hand-writing: — 

•  A  reference  by  himself  to  this  denial  will  be  found  in  a  later  page  of  this  chap- 
ter, at  the  conclusion  of  some  extracts  from  a  letter  of  his  to  Mr.  Perceval, 
f  Lords'  Journals,  Jan.  28th,  1811. 


356  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"The  members  of  Mr.  Addington's  administration,  who  retired,  found  the  sove- 
reign, in  personal  interviews,  quite  capable  of  acting,  and  Mr.  Pitt  and  those  who 
came  in  with  him,  in  his  majesty's  presence,  accepted  their  offices. 

"It  is  not  here  immaterial  to  mention,  that  Mr.  Pitt  was  minister  in  1789,  and  he 
knew  the  king's  state  intimately  in  1801 ;  he  saw  it  in  1804.  He  knew,  therefore,  in 
•what  manner,  and  under  what  circumstances,  and  under  what  care  and  provident 
management  the  king  continued  to  exercise  his  functions  in  both  those  periods,  1789 
and  1801.  In  fact,  who  did  not  know  it]  He  drew  his  notions  of  the  principle  upon 
•which  he  ought  to  act,  from  Lord  Thurlow  and  Lord  Camden  in  1789;  and,  if  the 
king's  acting  under  medical  management  was  wrong,  they  were  wrong  in  the  first 
instance.  Lord  Thurlow's  notion  was,  (which  it  is  both  difficult  to  maintain  and  to 
deny.)  that  an  individual  of  the  highest  powers,  reduced  to  be  an  individual  of  very 
weak  intellects  by  the  effect  of  bodily  or  mental  indisposition,  if  barely  compos  mentis, 
has  a  right  to  the  management  of  his  own  affairs.  Mr.  Pitt,  so  reduced  to  the  powers 
or  weakness  of  a  child  of  14,  might  have  managed  personal  property,  by  disposition, 
of  *the  most  enormous  value.  A  king  is  never  in  law  non  compos:  in  his  cradle — in 
the  delirium  of  fever — in  the  struggle  in  which  soul  and  body  are  parting — the  law 
acknowledges  no  weakness  in  him.  This  is  the  view  of  him,  which  allegiance  and 
the  obligation  of  oath  compel  his  servant  and  subject  to  take.  If  his  actual  state 
negatives  all  theory,  reason  seems  to  justify  another  view  of  him — but,  that  reason 
should  present  such  other  view,  the  law  does  not  presuppose.  The  very  principle 
\ipon  which  this  proceeds,  at  least  requires  that  great  caution  should  be  used,  before 
individual  judgment  should  be  considered  as  let  loose  from  the  obligations  of  oath 
and  allegiance.  In  1789,  when  Lord  Thurlow  came  to  Parliament,  he  came, — as  I 
did  on  the  1st  of  November, — because  the  king  did  not  understand  and  could  not 
comprehend,  at  the  time  he  was  taking  his  pleasure,  upon  what  he  meant  to  take  his 
pleasure: — if  the  case  had  been  otherwise,  I  have  personal  reason,  as  well  as  reason 
arising  out  of  fact,  to  believe  that  that  great  man  would  not  have  come  to  Parliament, 
upon  any  notion  that  either  his  own  or  the  physicians'  judgment  might  make  it  likely 
that  some  delusions  might  occur  in  an  hour  and  a  half,  after  one  hour  and  a  half's 
perfect  and  sound  conversation,  uninfluenced  in  the  matter  and  nature  of  it  by  ante- 
cedent delusions.  In  the  case  of  the  king,  he  did  not  think  the  law,  in  such  circum- 
stances, authorized  him  to  apply  the  principles  which  regulated  either  the  granting 
or  superseding  commissions  of  lunacy — (and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  think 
I  never  could  have  induced  myself  to  seal  the  commission  for  the  Regency  Bill  in 
such  precise  circumstances') — and  accordingly  he  and  all  those  with  whom  he  acted, 
2Wr.  Pitt,  Lord  Camden,  &c.,  tided  on,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  through  many  a  difficult 
scene.  Perhaps  it  would  not  be  going  too  far  to  say,  that,  "months  after  the  king  was 
at  St.  Paul's,  he  was  not  so  well  as  he  is  at  this  day.  But  there  is  a  difference 
between  a  declared  incapacity  and  resuming,  and  undeclared  incapacity  and  a  de- 
throning." 

The  letter,  after  describing  in  the  words  already  given  near  the  end 
of  Chapter  XIX.  the  circumstances  under  which  Mr.  Pitt  communi- 
cated with  the  king  in  1804,  proceeds : — 

"I  here  digress,  to  notice  that  both  Lord  Grey  and  Lord  Grenville  were  pleased 
more  than  to  insinuate  that  I  had  taken  advantage  of  the  king's  weakness  to  prejudice 
him  against  Mr.  Fox.  I  aver  this  to  be  a  direct  falsehood." 

In  his  Anecdote  Book,  he  many  years  afterwards  records  his  denial 
thus: — "Lord  Grenville  and  Lord  Grey,  in  debate  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  took  an  opportunity  to  do  more  than  insinuate,  that  I  had  pre- 
vented Mr.  Fox's  being  part  of  the  administration ;  upon  which  I 
stated  that  there  was  no  language  of  contradiction  to  what  they  repre- 
sented, which  a  gentleman  could  use  in  a  company  of  gentlemen, 
which  could  be  more  strong  than  that  in  which  I  desired  the  House 
to  understand  me  as  contradicting  those  lords."* 

This  denial  must  not  be  extended  beyond  the  charge  it  wras  meant 

*  Parl.  Deb.  January  28th,  181 1.  See  also  Lord  Eldon's  account  of  his  interviews 
•with  Mr.  Pitt  in  the  spring  of  1804 ;  Chap.  XIX. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  357 

to  meet,  of  having  taken  advantage  of  the  king's  weak  state  to  excite 
a  prejudice  against  Mr.  Fox  in  the  royal  mind;  for  Lord  Eldon, 
though  he  spurned  the  accusation  of  having  tampered  with  the  king, 
had  avowedly  employed  all  legitimate  means  for  preventing  Mr.  Fox's 
accession  to  the  ministry,  and  in  particular  was  wont  to  claim  credit 
for  the  earnestness  with  which  he  had  counselled  Mr.  Pitt  against 
such  a  coalition.* 

Among  the  embarrassments  of  the  administration  was  the  course 
pursued  by  the  royal  dukes,  who,  acting  throughout  these  proceed- 
ings in  the  spirit  of  their  original  remonstrance,!  threw  their  whole 
weight  into  the  scale  of  the  heir-apparent,  and  had  well  nigh  turned 
the  balance  against  the  government  and  the  queen. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  W.  Scott.')— (Extract.) 

(No  date;  but  probably  end  of  Jan.  1811.) 

"I  hope  you  are  net  angry  with  me  for  not  seeking  to  see  you.  The  fact  is,  that  my 
present  duties  are,  or  are  thought  by  me  to  be,  so  arduous  and  difficult,  and  wflhal  so 
perilous,  that  I  do  not  wish  to  ask  anybody's  advice,  or  to  involve  those  I  love  in  the 
consequences  of  my  conduct.  I  am  hardly  in  my  right  mind  upon  what  is  passing — 
and,  when  I  am  attacked  day  by  day,  and  every  man  who  was  with  me  in  adminis- 
tration in  1804  is  obstinately  holding  silence,  and  the  whole  royal  family,  whose  pro- 
testations of  gratitude  my  boxes  teem  with,  are  among  my  enemies;  God  help  me,  if 
I  had  not  the  means  of  proving  that  I  have  nothing  to  fear.  I  know  I  should  be  asking 
advice  if  I  were  with  you,  and  I  have  determined  rather  to  look  for  consolation  to 
those  whom  I  affectionately  love,  after  I  have  acted  for  myself,  than  to  pursue  any 
other  course  of  proceeding. 

"  I  saw  the  king  on  Saturday!  for  much  more  than  an  hour.  He  is  not  well,  and  I 
fear  he  requires  time.  In  the  midst  of  this  state  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  how 
right,  how  pious,  how  religious,  how  every  thing  that  he  should  be,  he  is,  with  the 
distressing  aberrations  I  allude  to. 

"Yours  affectionately, 

"Etnoir." 

•  See  Lord  Eldon's  letter  to  Lord  Melville,  of  January,  1807:  Chap  XXIII. 

f  See  above,  Chap.  XXXI. 

t  The  26th  of  January.  See  Lord  Eldon's  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  the 
28th,  referring  to  the  interview  with  the  king  a  little  more  than  forty-eight  hours 
before. 


358  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
1811. 

Mr.  Perceval's  administration  continued  by  the  regent. — Letters  from  the  queen. — 
Ex-officio  informations:  Judicial  arrears  in  Chancery  and  in  the  House  of  Lords: 
Mr.  M.  A.  Taylor's  attempts  at  Chancery  reform :  anecdotes  of  him. — Debates  in 
House  of  Lords  on  the  Irish  convention:  On  the  dissenting  ministers'  bill:  On  the 
abolition  of  certain  capital  punishments. — Letters  of  Lord  Ellenborough  and  the 
Duke  of  York. — House  of  Lords,  Catholic  question,  Court  of  Admiralty. — Letter  of 
Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire. — Currency. — Letters  from  Mr.  Perceval  on  the  govern- 
ment of  Ireland,  and  on  the  approaching  termination  of  the  regency  restrictions. — 
Letter  from  Lord  Ellenborough. — Verses  by  Lord  Eldon  to  his  lady. — Sir  William 
Scott's  property  saved  by  Lord  Eldon. — Unfavourable  state  of  the  king's  health. 

THE  difficulties  of  Lord  Eldon  and  his  colleagues  were  now  relieved 
in  a  very  unexpected  manner.  The  Regency  Bill  having  finally  passed 
both  Houses,  and  being  about  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  the  great  seal 
by  commission  issued  under  the  resolutions  of  the  Lords  and  Com- 
mons, the  prince  addressed  a  letter  to  Mr.  Perceval,  in  which  he 
declared  that,  actuated  solely  by  filial  duty  and  affection,  and  dread- 
ing lest  any  act  of  his  might,  in  the  smallest  degree,  interfere  with 
the  progress  of  his  father's  recovery,  he  felt  it  "  incumbent  upon  him, 
at  this  precise  juncture,  to  communicate  to  Mr.  Perceval  his  intention 
not  to  remove  from  their  stations  those  whom  he  found  there,  as  his 
majesty's  official  servants."  In  this  decision  he,  of  course,  was  not 
uninfluenced  by  the  consideration  that,  as  the  king's  recovery  appeared 
to  be  approaching,  no  change  then  made  would  have  much  likelihood 
of  permanence. 

The  devotion  which,  in  all  the  transactions  and  discussions  on 
the  regency,  had  been  evinced  by  Lord  Eldon  to  the  king,  was 
highly  appreciated  by  the  queen,  whose  acknowledgments  were  thus 
expressed : — 

(  Queen  Charlotte  to  Lard  Eldon.) 

"Windsor,  Feb.  Gth,  1811. 

"The  queen  cannot  refrain  returning  thanks  to  the  lord  chancellor  for  the  pleasing 
account  which  his  note  conveyed  to  her  of  his  majesty's  improvement  since  Friday 
last,  and  she  feels  happy  to  add  that  the  account,  this  morning  received  from  Dr. 
Baillie,  continues  to  increase  our  hopes  still  stronger  for  a  complete  recovery.  The 
queen  had  a  visit  from  the  Prince  of  Wales  soon  after  the  lord  chancellor  had  left 
Windsor.  He  brought  a  copy  of  the  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Perceval,  containing  his 
intention  of  retaining  his  majesty's  present  ministers — a  step  which,  independent  of  the 
credit  it  is  to  the  prince,  gave  the  most  heartfelt  pleasure  to  herself.  She  cannot  help 
lamenting  that,  upon  such  a  melancholy  business,  which  is  now  finished,  and  in  which 
the  lord  chancellor  has  given  such  strong  proofs  of  zeal  and  aifection  for  his  sove- 
reign and  country,  his  feelings  should  have  been  put  to  such  severe  trials;  but  his 
own  conscience  and  the  king's  good  opinion  must  be  his  chief  support.  As  to  her- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  359 

self,  she  must  always  remember,  with  gratitude,  the  lord  chancellor's  attention  shown 
her  upon  this  melancholy  occasion. 

«  "  CHARLOTTE." 

The  king's  health  still  appeared  to  be  improving ;  nor  was  he  kept 
in  ignorance  of  the  measures  taken  by  Parliament  with  respect  to  his 
own  condition. 

(Report  from  the  king's  physicians  to  the  lord  chancellor.} — (Extract.) 

"We  have  the  honour  to  report  to  your  lordship  that  his  majesty  appears  to  be 
going  on  in  the  most  favourable  manner.  It  is  right  to  mention,  and  we  do  not  think 
it  an  unfavourable  circumstance,  that  he  has  occasionally  adverted  to  the  subject  of 
his  former  delusion,  but  in  so  slight  a  manner  as  to  increase  our  confidence  in  its 
gradual  subsidence  from  his  majesty's  mind. 

"  We  have  it  in  command  from  his  majesty  to  express  his  personal  regard  for  your 
lordship,  and  the  particular  satisfaction  he  has  felt  from  the  circumstance  of  your 
lordship  being  made  one  of  her  majesty's  council,  not  by  your  office  as  the  lord  chan- 
cellor, but  as  Lord  Eldon." 

(  Queen  Charlotte  to  Lord  Eldon.) 

"Windsor,  Feb.  22d,  1811. 

"The  queen  is  anxious  to  state  to  the  lord  chancellor  her  anxiety  that  some  one  or 
other  of  her  council  should  come  to  Windsor  at  least  once  a  week,  to  see  his  majesty's 
physicians,  to  receive  their  report  personally.  Before  the  Regency  Bill  was  passed, 
his  majesty's  ministers  severally  came  to  receive  this  information;  and  it  is  evident 
that  such  a  personal  inquiry  would  appear  as  a  duty  to  the  king  and  a  respectful 
attention  in  her  towards  H.  M.  The  queen  is  particularly  desirous  of  this,  as  the  king 
is  constantly  asking  if  not  one  of  the  council  is  coming  to  do  so,  and  seems  to  feel 
that  putting  it  off  procrastinates  his  recovery,  as  his  majesty  (she  is  sorry  to  say)  thinks 
himself  too  near  that  period:  and  therefore  the  queen  is  of  opinion,  that  when  his 
majesty  is  informed  of  what  passes  at  those  private  inquiries,  it  will  prove  a  check  to 
his  expectations.  The  queen  is  perfectly  sensible  that  neither  the  lord  chancellor 
nor  the  other  law  lords  can  be  included  in  this  request,  but  hopes  the  lord  chancellor 
will  consider  it,  and  settle  it  with  the  rest  of  the  council. 

"  CHAKLOTTE." 

The  prince  regent's  opening  speech  to  Parliament  was  read  by  the 
lord  chancellor  on  the  12th  of  March. — The  only  discussion  of  any 
considerable  importance  in  which  he  took  part  during  the  three  or 
four  months  which  succeeded  the  debates  on  the  regency,  was  that 
which  arose  on  the  4th  of  March,  out  of  a  motion  made  by  Lord 
Holland  for  an  account  of  all  informations  ex-officio,  filed  within  the 
preceding  ten  years  in  cases  of  libel.  This  motion  was  made,  not 
upon  any  specific  allegation  of  abuse,  but  as  the  ground  of  a  general 
argument  for  relaxing  the  legal  restraints  upon  seditious  publications. 

The  lord  chancellor  opposed  this  attempt  and  vindicated  the  power  of  filing 
ex-officio  informations,  as  essential  to  the  defence  of  public  order.  He  believed 
that  no  attorney-general  had  prosecuted  more  libels  than  it  had  fallen  to  his  lot  to 
proceed  upon.  He  had  acted  on  the  persuasion  that  libel  was  one  of  the  most  formi- 
dable weapons  then  wielded  against  the  constitution  and  government  of  this  country. 
After  vindicating  the  proceedings  of  the  then  attorney-general,  (Sir  Vicary  Gibbs,)  he 
adverted  to,  and  admitted,  the  general  unpopularity  of  ex-officio  informations.  He  had 
known  many  young  men  who,  when  first  called  to  the  bar,  were  most  eloquent  in 
their  condemnation  of  these  proceedings;  but  some  how  or  other  it  had  happened, 
that  when  those  same  men  reached  sufficient  eminence  to  be  retained  by  government 
and  called  into  consultations,  the  odiousness  of  the  practice  wholly  vanished  from 
their  sight.  As  to  the  complaints  of  some  noble  lords  in  this  debate  about  the  rigour 
of  the  act  of  48  Geo.  3.  c.  58,  which  had  invested  the  attorney-general  with  the  power 
to  require  bail  on  ex-officio  informations,  the  best  answer  was  the  fact,  that  under  that 


360  LIFE  OF  LORD 

statute  only  one  person  had  been  held  to  bail,  and  that  was  in  the  case  of  a  man  who, 
after  having  been  prosecuted  for  a  libel  had  the  hardihood  to  republish  it  forthwith. 
Lord  Eldon  added,  that  the  same  sort  of  contumacy  had  been  practised  when  he  was 
attorney-general,  and  in  a  remarkable  way.  The  libellous  matter  mustbe  stated  on  the 
record;  and  the  contrivance  was,  to  publish  the  record  containing  such  matter.  It 
was  an  amusing  piece  of  ingenuity,  but  it  carried  a  mischief  requiring  remedy.  The 
present  motion  was  one  which  he  felt  it  incumbent  on  him  to  oppose,  because  an 
acquiescence  in  such  a  motion  would,  in  some  degree,  sanction  a  suspicion  that  there 
was  something  in  the  administration  of  justice  which  the  House  considered  so  far 
improper  as  to  need  some  interference.  The  substantial  interests  of  the  public  re- 
quired the  primu  facie  presumption  that  persons  who  filled  offices  of  trust,  particularly 
those  relating  to  the  administration  of  the  laws,  discharge  them  with  fidelity  and  in- 
tegrity and  no  clamours  against  their  conduct  should  be  raised  or  encouraged,  except 
in.  cases  of  clear  and  gross  misconduct. 

Lord  Holland's  motion  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  24  to  12. 

The  arrears  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  and  before  the  appellate 
tribunal  of  the  House  of  Lords,  were  now  so  largely  increasing,  as 
to  overmatch  even  the  chancellor's  great  powers  of  intellect  and 
labour.  He  found  it  necessary,  therefore,  on  the  5th  of  March,  to 
move  the  appointment  of  a  select  committee  for  considering  the  best 
way  to  expedite  the  appellate  business  in  the  House  of  Lords.  A 
select  committee  was  accordingly  appointed,  which,  on  the  30th  of 
May,  reported  that  there  were  depending  296  appeals  and  42  writs 
of  error;  that  in  order  to  the  reduction  of  this  arrear  it  would  be 
expedient  for  the  House  to  sit  at  least  three  days  a  week  during  the 
session  ;  and  that,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  lord  chancellor's 
attendance  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  of  supplying  sufficient  means 
to  carry  on  the  business  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  an  additional 
chancery  judge  ought  to  be  constituted. 

On  the  7th  of  March  (the  next  day  but  one  after  this  committee  of 
the  Lords  had  been  appointed,  and  of  course  before  it  could  have 
made  any  material  progress  in  its  inquiries),  Mr.  Michael  Angelo 
Taylor,  who  had,  in  the  preceding  session,  directed  the  attention  of 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  to  the  subject,  and  had  received  from 
him  in  answer  an  assurance  that  something  should  be  done  for  the 
redress  of  the  evil,  moved  that  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons should  be  appointed  to  ascertain  and  report  the  number  of 
appeals  pending  before  the  House  of  Lords.  The  appointment  of 
the  committee  in  the  House  of  Lords  having  superseded  all  present 
necessity  for  this  motion,  Mr.  Perceval  moved  the  previous  question, 
to  which  the  House  agreed.  In  this  debate,  the  subject  being  then 
unmingled  with  any  considerations  of  party,  the  parliamentary  advo- 
cates of  the  suitors  in  chancery  threw  out  no  imputations  against 
Lord  Eldon.  Mr.  Taylor,  in  the  speech  with  which  he  introduced 
his  motion,  declared, 

That  he  meant  no  imputation  upon  Lord  Eldon,  whose  attention  to  his  duties  he 
fully  acknowledged;  but  that  the  business  of  the  court  had  increased  so  much  beyond 
what  it  had  been  in  Lord  Hardwicke's  time,  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  man  to 
dispose  of  it,  however  eminent  his  abilities  or  sedulous  his  attention. 

Mr.  Adam  said  it  was  certainly  true  that  dilatoriness  had  arisen  to  a  great  height, 
but  wifhmit  blame  to  any  one  officer  of  the  court.  He  agreed  with  his  hon.  friend,  that 
the  noble  lord  evinced  great  anxiety  to  do  justice  to  all  parties. 

Sir  Samuel  Rorailly  said  the  motion  would  not  convey,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  any 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  361 

mark  of  censure  upon  the  noble  and  learned  lord,-  and  he  did  assure  the  House  that 
nothing  could  give  him  greater  concern  than  to  be  thought  to  give  his  consent  to  any 
motion  which  could  in  any  way  be  construed  into  a  desire  to  reflect  upon  the  conduct 
of  that  noble  and  learned  lord.  No  man  had  experienced  more  uniform  acts  of  kind- 
ness than  himself  from  the  noble  and  learned  lord.  Indeed,  his  general  attention  to 
the  bar,  his  conciliatory  demeanour,  and  his  strict  love  of  justice,  had  endeared  him 
to  all  the  gentlemen  who  practised  in  that  court.  A  man  more  eminently  qualified, 
in  point  of  talents  and  learning,  for  all  parts  of  his  profession,  he  knew  not ;  and  he 
most  firmly  believed  that  he  never  had  his  equal  in  point  of  anxiety  to  do  justice  to 
the  suitors  of  the  court.  If  he  had  any  defect,  it  was  an  over  anxiety  in  that  respect. 

These  were  the  opinions  of  the  lawyers,  even  of  the  reforming 
lawyers,  about  Lord  Eldon's  efficiency,  until  it  occurred  to  the  Whigs 
to  assail  the  government  through  the  sides  of  its  chancellor. 

Mr.  M.  A.  Taylor,  who  will  be  found  returning  to  the  charge  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  session,  and  who  continued  to  be  the  Coryphaeus 
of  chancery  reform  until  the  exigences  of  party  transferred  the  lead 
to  greater  performers,  was  a  well-meaning  little  man,  with  an  import- 
ant manner  and  a  sonorous  voice.  Mr.  Pitt  once  said  that,  to  hear 
him  deliver  his  first  sentence  in  a  debate,  you  would  suppose,  if  you 
did  not  know  him,  that  he  was  about  to  make  a  great  speech.  He 
had  been  called  to  the  bar,  and  bore  himself  as  one  learned  in  its 
lore,  who,  if  his  private  fortune  had  not  led  him  to  quit  the  profes- 
sion in  early  life,  could  hardly  have  escaped  the  responsibility  of  the 
seals.  Uniting  much  good  humour  with  his  pomposity,  he  was 
naturally  a  favourite  mark  for  a  sort  of  friendly  quizzing.  Lord 
Eldon,  with  whom  he  had  gone  the  northern  circuit,  used  to  relate 
divers  stories  of  him,  two  or  three  of  which  are  preserved  in  the 
Anecdote  Book. 

On  some  point  of  law  which  arose  in  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr. 
Taylor  had  answered  Mr.  Bearcroft ;  but  not  without  an  apology  that 
he  himself,  who  was  then  but  a  young  practitioner,  and,  as4ie  phrased 
it,  "a  chicken  in  the  law,"  should  take  the  liberty  of  contradicting 
so  eminent  an  authority.  Upon  this  the  Anecdote  Book  says :  "  He 
never  lost  the  name  of  chicken.  But  what  made  him  very  angry 
was,  that  he  and  Campbell  and  I,  going  the  northern  circuit  together, 
and  Taylor,  without  any  cause  for  hurry,  insisting  upon  making  a  long 
day's  journey,  Campbell  and  I  resisted  it  and  refused  to  go  any  farther 
than  to  the  Cock  at  Eaton,  on  the  North  road :  insisting  upon  the 
'  Chicken's'  sleeping  at  a  relation's  house." 

"  In  the  seditious  times,"  continues  Lord  Eldon  in  the  Anecdote 
Book,  "  I,  as  attorney-general,  filed  an  information  against  a  pub- 
lisher of  a  libel.  When  it  came  on  for  trial,  Felix  Vaughan,  who 
was  much  employed  for  such  persons,  made  an  objection  in  point  of 
law,  which  I  was  obliged  to  admit  was  good ;  though  the  pleading 
was  drawn  by  George  (afterwards  Baron)  Wood.  The  Chief  Justice 
Kenyon  stated  that  the  objection  was  incapable  of  being  answered 
and  was  clearly  fatal,  and  the  defendant  was  acquitted.  Michael 
Angelo  Taylor,  at  a  sessions  in  Yorkshire,  was  chairman ;  and  there, 
in  one  of  my  prosecutions,  a  man  was  tried  before  him  on  an  indict- 
ment, to  which  the  very  same  objection  applied,  and  was  urged  by 
the  same  counsel,  Felix  Vaughan.  Taylor,  the  chairman,  said, '  Mr. 


362  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Vaughan,  that  objection  might  probably  do  very  well  if  there  was  not 
a  lawyer  in  the  chair;  /  overrule  it.'  Vaughan  said,  'Sir,  I  really 
thought,  and  do  think,  that  no  answer  can  be  given  to  the  objection. 
The  attorney-general,  a  few  days  ago,  at  Guildhall,  admitted  it  to  be 
unanswerable,  and  Lord  Chief  Justice  Kenyon  declared  it  to  be  so.' 
— '  Oh,  Mr.  Vaughan,'  said  Taylor,  '  they  did  not  understand  the 
matter;  they  could  not  have  understood  the  matter.' — I  think  the  man 
was  convicted,  imprisoned  and  pardoned" 

Such  was  the  person  who,  with  great  perseverance  and  a  strong 
desire  to  do  a  little  conspicuous  good,  but  with  a  knowledge  of  his 
subject  pretty  nearly  inverse  as  its  importance,  continued  for  many 
years,  during  some  weeks  of  each  spring,  to  increase,  by  his  pertina- 
cious pressure  of  impracticable  remedies,  the  difficulty  of  supplying  an 
undeniable  defect. 

A  representative  assembly  had  been  projected  by  the  Irish  malcon- 
tents, which  was  to  have  held  its  sittings  in  Dublin,  and  taken  the 
general  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  under  colour 
of  petitioning  Parliament  and  seeking  redress  of  grievances.  The 
Irish  government  suppressed  this  project  by  a  circular  letter  to  the 
magistrates,  instructing  them  that  all  persons  concerned  in  the  attempt 
to  elect  or  appoint  such  a  body  were  to  be  arrested,  in  pursuance  of 
the  Irish  Act  of  33  Geo.  3.  c.  29.,  commonly  called  the  Convention 
Act.  In  a  debate  of  the  House  of  Lords  respecting  this  instruction, 
on  the  4th  of  April,  1811, 

The  lord  chancellor  justified  the  general  tenour  of  the  circular.  The  Convention 
Act  had  not  the  Catholics  particularly  in  its  view;  it  contemplated  the  assembling  of 
any  description  of  persons,  who  met  together  for  the  purpose  of  electing  others  who 
were  to  interfere  in  matters  of  church  and  state.  It  was  the  nature  and  intention  of 
such  meetings  that  made  them  legal  or  illegal.  It  mattered  not  under  what  denomi- 
nation they  were  known  whether  delegates,  managers  or  any  other :  they  would  take 
their  character  from  their  mode  of  proceeding.  If  the  assembly  which  these  dele- 
gates or  managers  proposed  to  elect  was  an  unlawful  assembly,  so  would  the  assem- 
bly be  which  should  elect  them.  The  elected  or  appointed,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  object  for  which  they  should  have  been  chosen,  communicated  the  legality  or 
illegality  of  their  meeting  to  the  body  electing  them.  Such  was  the  interpretation  of 
the  statute  upon  which  the  letter  proceeded. 

A  bill  had  been  introduced  by  Lord  Sidmouth  on  the  9th  of  May, 
for  preventing  improper  persons  from  assuming  the  character  and 
privileges  of  dissenting  ministers.  The  dissenters  violently  opposed 
this  measure  as  an  infraction  of  the  Toleration  Act :  and  the  govern- 
ment discouraged  it.  On  the  motion  for  the  second  reading,  May  21, — 

The  lord  chancellor  admitted  that  there  were  considerable  doubts  as  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  law  then  in  being,  and  particularly  as  to  the  class  of  persons  enti- 
tled to  exemptions  from  the  militia.  The  laxity  of  interpretation  which  prevailed  at 
one  time  was  shown  by  the  fact,  that  in  his  younger  days,  when  he  was  liable  to  be 
drawn  for  the  militia,  he  had  been  advised  to  get  himself  exempted  by  paying  six- 
pence for  a  license  to  preach.  Among  those  who  now  applied  for  licenses,  there  were 
some  who  could  neither  write  nor  read,  and  who  absolutely,  when  the  names  of  others 
were  written  down,  took  them  away  as  their  own.  He  believed  this  bill  to  be  well 
intended  and  capable  of  doing  good  ;  but  in  the  present  circumstances  he  would  re- 
commend that  it  should  not  be  pressed. 

The  bill  was  rejected. 

On  the  24th,  Lord  Holland  moved  the  second  reading  of  a  bill  car- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  363 

ried  by  Sir  S.  Romilly  through  the  House  of  Commons  which  went 
to  remit  the  capital  part  of  the  penalty  for  privately  stealing  to  the 
amount  of  40s.  in  a  dwelling-house.  Lord  Ellenborough,  as  he  had 
done  in  the  instance  of  the  last  year's  measure  relative  to  shop-lifting, 
moved,  as  an  amendment,  the  second  reading  of  the  present  bill  at  a 
distant  day,  or  in  other  words,  the  rejection  of  it.  The  lord  chan- 
cellor concurred  in  this  opposition  on  the  same  grounds  which  he  had 
taken  in  the  preceding  year :  and  the  bill  was  rejected. 

A  committee  appointed  by  the  House  of  Lords  to  inquire  of  delays 
in  chancery  had  made  its  report  on  the  30th  of  May.  On  the  5th  of 
June,  a  committee  for  inquiring  into  the  same  subject  was  appointed 
by  the  House  of  Commons,  on  a  motion  of  Mr.  M.  A.  Taylor,  which 
had  been  adjourned  from  the  17th  of  May,  and  which  was  now  car- 
ried by  the  casting  vote  of  the  speaker.  This  last  committee  met  and 
took  evidence  respecting  arrears,  which  is  annexed  to  their  printed 
report,  dated  18th  June,  1811 :  but  it  is  stated,  in  the  same  report,  that 
they  found  the  probable  remainder  of  time  in  that  session  insufficient 
for  the  objects  of  their  appointment.  Thus  the  matter  stood  over  till 
the  26th  of  February,  1812. 

The  arrival  of  spring  produced  no  mitigation  of  the  king's  malady. 
The  state  of  his  mind  is  authentically  described  in  the  two  following 
letters. 

(Lord  Ellenborough  to  Lord  Eldon.) — (Extract) 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  have  had  some  conversation  this  evening  with  the  two  archbishops  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  questions  which  we  ought  to  put  to  the  physicians.  I  own  I  am  very 
much  inclined  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  any  opinion  I  may  have  formed,  if  it  differs 
from  yours;  but  agreeing,  as  I  fully  do,  that  our  declaration  to  the  privy  council  need 
only  contain  a  brief,  true  and  distinct  statement  of  the  king's  health,  encumbered  with 
as  little  further  circumstance  as  possible,  still  I  think  that  for  our  own  information, 
and  for  our  justification  with  the  world,  if  it  should  be  hereafter  inquired  of  us  what 
information  we  had  in  fact  obtained  at  the  time  when  our  statement  was  made,  that 
we  should  distinctly  know,  by  precise  questions  put  and  answered,  what  the  kings 
ailment  actually  is,  and  by  what  symptoms  and  circumstances  of  conversation  and  conduct 
it  is  now  manifested, — and,  also,  what  is  the  description  and  character  which  we  ought 
properly  to  ascribe  to  the  delusions  (as  we  call  them)  and  what  to  the  irregularities 
and  extravagances  of  plans  and  projects  of  which  we  hear  daily. 

"This  information,  when  obtained,  is  for  ourselves  and  to  ourselves  only,  unless  Par- 
liament shall  require  it  of  us — and  if  they  do,  I  own  I  should  be  sorry  to  own  that  we 
were  possessed  of  no  fuller  and  more  distinct  information  than  we  are  at  present 
enabled  to  lay  before  them  on  this  subject.  I  should  be  sorry  that  we  should,  in  the 
judgment  of  any,  appear  to  have  inertly  and  insufficiently  exercised  a  function  of 
inquiry  so  important  as  that  is  which  is  delegated  to  us. 

"  St.  James's  Square,  Wed.  evening,  April  3d,  1811." 

(The  Duke  of  York  to  Lord  Eldon.)— (Extract.) 

"Stable  Yard,  May  23th.  1811. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"At  the  desire  of  my  brother,  the  prince  regent,  I  trouble  your  lordship  with  this 
letter,  to  acquaint  you  with  what  has  passed  during  these  last  two  days  at  Windsor, 
from  whence  I  am  only  returned  this  afternoon.  Upon  my  arrival  there  yesterday 
morning,  I  found  his  majesty  in  the  queen's  room.  He  appeared  at  first  very  much 
affected  at  seeing  me,  and  expressed  himself  in  the  kindest  and  most  affectionate 
manner  upon  my  re-appointment  to  the  chief  command  of  the  army;  but  soon  flew 
off  from  that  subject,  and  then  ran  on,  in  perfect  good  humour,  but  with  the  greatest 
rapidity  and  with  little  or  no  connection,  upon  the  most  trifling  topics,  at  limes  hint- 


364  LIFE  OF  LORD 

ing  at  some  of  the  subjects  of  his  delusion,  in  spite  of  all  our  endeavours  to  change 
the  conversation. — This  continued  the  same  during  his  ride  and  the  whole  of  the 
queen's  visit  in  the  afternoon;  and  though  this  morning  his  majesty  was  quieter  and 
less  rapid  in  the  change  of  his  ideas,  yet  the  topics  of  his  conversation  were  equally 
frivolous. 

"  I  was  so  much  shocked  at  what  I  had  observed  both  on  Wednesday  and  during 
the  different  visits  of  yesterday,  that  I  took  an  opportunity,  when  I  left  his  majesty 
yesterday  evening,  to  have  a  conversation  with  Dr.  Robert  Willis,  who  very  candidly 
stated  to  me  his  opinion,  that  his  majesty  had  lost  ground  this  week,  and  that  though 
he  thought  very  seriously  of  the  state  of  his  bodily  health,  he  was  much  more  alarmed 
at  the  apparent  frivolity  or  rather  imbecility  of  his  mind.  He  added  that  something 
ought  to  be  done;  but  that,  in  the  present  state  of  his  majesty's  mind,  it  was  in  vain 
to  hope  that  any  conversation  with  him  would  be  attended  with  any  good  effect. 
******* 

"I  am  ever,  my  dear  lord, 

"Yours  most  sincerely, 

"  FREDERICK." 

The  18th  of  June,  1811,  brought  on,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  a  dis- 
cussion of  certain  petitions  from  the  Roman  Catholics,  which  Lord 
Donoughmore  moved  to  refer  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  House. 

The  Bishop  of  Norwich  argued  in  support  of  the  motion,  quoting  Fenelon  and  Arch- 
bishop Wake,  and  appealing  to  the  opinions  of  Mr.  Pitt  and  Mr.  Fox,  Mr.  Burke  and 
Mr.  Windham. 

Lord  Grenville,  who  spcke  later  in  the  debate,  insisted  that  Mr.  Pitt's  resignation  in 
1801  had  been  produced  by  his  sense  of  the  indispensable  necessity  of  coupling,  with 
the  Irish  union,  Roman  Catholic  equalization. 

The  lord  chancellor  followed. 

"The  noble  lord  who  has  just  sat  down,"  said  he,  "has  spoken  of  the  opinions  held 
by  Mr.  Pitt  at  the  time  of  the  union.  I  was  not  myself,  at  that  particular  time,  officially 
connected  with  Mr.  Pitt, — to  whose  name  and  memory  I  believe  I  have  shown  as  much 
attachment  as  ever  was  evinced  by  the  noble  lord,  or  by  any  other  of  Mr.  Pitt's 
friends;  but  some  time  afterwards  I  did  enjoy  his  confidence  as  one  of  his  colleagues, 
and  I  can  say  that  in  many,  many  conversations  with  him  on  this  particular  subject, 
I  took  the  opportunity  of  trying  to  learn  from  him  what  was  the  nature  of  the  securi- 
ties and  safeguards  he  intended  for  the  Protestant  Establishment,  and  of  stating  that 
until  it  were  declared  in  what  these  were  to  consist,  I  could  not  shift  my  foot  from  the 
solid  ground  of  the  constitution.  I  aver,  upon  my  honour,  with  all  due  respect  for 
that  great  man,  that  he  never  could  tell  me  what  were  the  securities  and  safeguards 
he  himself  contemplated  as  likely  to  afford  the  necessary  protection.  A  late  publica- 
tion of  the  noble  baron  who  spoke  last  has  dealt  with  this  subject  of  safeguards.*  It 
has  proposed  the  check  called  the  veto,  without  which  it  appears  he  will  not  agree  to 
these  claims,  but  which  the  Catholics  as  positively  declare  they  will  not  concede. 
Of  no  other  security  have  I  heard.  God  forbid  I  should  refuse  to  any  class  of  my  fel- 
low-subjects any  privileges  which  it  would  be  safe  to  allow  them ;  but  I  am  not  pre- 
pared, when  specific  propositions  have  been  unsuccessfully  brought  forward,  to  go 
upon  general  grounds  into  a  committee,  there  to  raise  unfounded  hopes,  or  excite 
groundless  fears.  I  must  know  first  wherein  the  safeguards  are  to  consist,  and  then 
I  shall  understand  better  what  I  am  going  to  do. 

"When  I  look  into  the  books  which  lay  down  the  principles  of  our  laws  and  consti- 
tution in  church  and  state, — the  books  of  civil  law,  the  books  of  canon  law,  nay,  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  which  last,  I  think,  ought  to  have  its  weight,  and  a  conclusive 
weight,  with  a  reverend  prelate  of  our  churcht, — I  cannot,  especially  as  a  lawyer, 
accept  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Fox,  for  whose  name  I  have  much  respect,  nor  those  of  Mr. 
Pitt,  Mr.  Burke,  and  Mr.  Windham, — as  decisive  on  this  subject.  We  are  now  told 
that  the  king's  supremacy  means  nothing4  I  hardly  can  tell  where  I  am — I  could 
hardly  think  myself  in  a  British  House  of  Lords,  when  I  heard  some  of  the  things 

*  Lord  Grenville's  Letter  to  Lord  Fingall  on  the  Veto. 
|  In  reference  to  the  speech  of  the  Bishop  of  Norwich. 
$  This  seems  to  refer  to  a  part  of  Lord  Donoughmore's  opening  speech. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  365 

uttered  this  night.  I  have  read  something  of  Archbishop  Wake,  having  myself,  in  early 
life,  been  intended  for  the  church,  and  I  can  quote  him,  page  by  page,  with  other  noble 
lords;  and  I  could  quote  Fenelon,  too,  on  some  of  these  subjecls.  Am  I  too  rash  in 
standing  upon  the  constitution  of  England  and  the  principles  of  the  revolution,  which 
United  and  knitted  together  a  Protestant  state  and  constitution,  and  a  Protestant 
Church  establishment,  for  the  express  purpose  of  handing  them  down  together,  with 
all  their  benefits,  to  our  remotest  posterity  1  Will  your  lordships  concur  to  alter  the 
settlement  of  1688,  by  consenting  to  a  motion  which  can  create  only  uneasiness  and 
disappointment  1  There  is  no  security  to  be  heard  of  but  the  rejected  veto.  I  may 
be  called  a  bigot,  ay,  very  likely,  a  monk;  but  in  answer  to  such  epithets  I  have  still 
to  say,  Give  me  your  distinct  propositions — explain  to  me  your  safeguards  and  your 
securities — and  then  I  will  most  anxiously  consider  and  examine  them  on  their  own 
grounds,  and  see  what  can  be  done;  but  I  will  not  consent  to  go  into  a  committee  on 
any  general  statement  of  a  petition." 

The  motion  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  121  against  62. 

On  the  following  Friday,  the  21st  of  June,  a  bill  being  before  the 
House  for  the  regulation  of  army  prize-money,  Lord  Suffolk  spoke  at 
length  upon  a  variety  of  topics  which  he  conceived  to  be  more  or  less 
connected  with  this  subject.  Among  other  matters  of  complaint  he 
alleged  great  delays  and  abuses  in  the  admiralty  prize  courts,  and 
unrolled  upon  the  floor  a  proctor's  bill  of  twenty  feet  in  length. 

The  lord  chancellor  said  it  would  be  an  inexcusable  waste  of  their  lordships'  time, 
to  consume  it  in  answering  even  that  very  little  of  the  noble  earl's  speech  which  had 
any  reference  at  all  to  the  measure  before  them.  He  thought  it  his  duty,  however,  to 
vindicate  the  principal  officers  of  the  Court  of  Admiralty;*  and  to  express  his  regret 
that  a  member  of  the  high  assembly  he  was  then  addressing  should  have  introduced 
a  piece  of  mummery  never  before  witnessed  wiihin  those  walls,  and  altogether  unbe- 
coming the  dignity  and  gravity  of  that  branch  of  the  legislature. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire.)— (Extract.) 

(Endorsed,  June  26th,  1811.) 
"My  dear  Swire, 

"  I  am  in  health  very  well ;  I  think  better  than  usual.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  I  have 
been  sorely  goaded,  and  vexed,  and  tormented  this  session ;  but  I  defy  all  my  foes,  and 
a  man  cannot  have  had  the  duties  to  execute  in  life  which  I  have  had  to  discharge, 
•without  having  many  and  bitter  foes.  Of  my  poor  old  master  I  don't  despair,  though 
I  do  not  confidently  hope  about  him.  When  I  give  up  the  seal,  you  may  look  upon 
that  as  an  act  of  despair;  for  though  the  regent  has  certainly  conducted  himself  to  me, 
personally,  in  every  respect  as  well  as  I  could  desire,  I  serve  only  that  my  master 
may  find  me  at  my  post,  if  he  returns  to  his;  and  when  I  give  up  the  hope  of  that,  I 
have  done.  I  cannot  quit  the  expectation  of  a  ride  with  you  yet  to  Eldon,  and  nobody 
can  say  how  soon  that  may  be." 

******* 

On  the  6th  of  July,  1811,  a  marriage  took  place  between  James 
William  Farrer,  Esquire  (then  at  the  bar,  now  a  master  in  chancery), 
and  the  Honourable  Mrs.  Scott,  the  widow  of  the  chancellor's  eldest 
son,  and  mother  of  the  present  earl,  who  writes  of  it  in  these  terms  : — 

"  My  grandfather  objected  to  this  marriage,  not  on  personal  grounds, 
but  stating  himself  to  be  averse  to  '  vota  iterata,'  to  second  marriages  ; 
curiously,  perhaps,  for  he  himself  was  the  offspring  of  a  second  mar- 
riage. After  the  event,  however,  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  unex- 
ceptionable conduct  of  the  parties,  gradually  obliterated  these  impres- 
sions." 

Lord  Stanhope,  on  the  27th  of  June,  had  introduced  a  bill  into  the 
House  of  Lords,  having  for  its  main  object  to  maintain  the  value  of 
•  Of  which  Sir  William  Scott  was  the  judge. 


366 

bank  notes  in  relation  to  coin.  The  chancellor  supported  the  princi- 
ple of  the  bill  both  on  this  first  occasion,  and  on  the  motion  for  the 
third  reading,  which  was  made  on  the  8th  of  July.* 

The  24th  of  July  concluded  the  session  of  Parliament,  which  was 
prorogued  by  commission,  after  the  reading  by  the  lord  chancellor  of 
a  speech  from  the  throne. 

Ireland  had  now  become  a  subject  of  almost  unceasing  uneasiness 
to  the  government.  Although  the  intended  convention  had  been  frus- 
trated by  their  vigilance,  the  means  of  repressing  such  movements  for 
the  future  was  matter  of  abiding  anxiety.  The  succeeding  letter  has 
an  especial  interest  at  the  present  day : — 

(Mr.  Perceval  to  Lord  Eldon.} 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  have  forwarded  the  papers  from  Ryder  to  the  cabinet  room.  I  have, however,  as 
I  conceived  you  wished,  kept  back  your  note  to  me.  I  enter  into  all  the  difficulties 
•which  you  anticipate  as  likely  to  arise  upon  the  main  question  concerned  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Irish  R.  Catholics;  but  I  differ  a  little  as  to  the  practical  consequence 
of  those  difficulties  on  the  present  question.  I  think,  upon  the  point  of  preventing  a 
R.  Catholic  Representative  Assembly  from  silting  in  Dublin,  we  shall  have  no  differences 
in  the  cabinet,  and  very  little  even  in  Parliament ;  and  that  consideration  leads  me  to 
this  conclusion  upon  the  subject  of  the  legal  question,  viz.,  I  should  be  prepared  to 
advise  a  prosecution  against  such  an  illegal  assembly,  even  if  I  had  more  doubts  as  to 
its  illegality,  because  I  feel  assured  that  if  the  Irish  government  is  to  be  upheld  at  all, 
such  an  assembly  nosing  it  in  its  metropolis  cannot  be  endured, — and  that  the  prose- 
cution will  bring  the  question  to  its  fair  issue,— /or  if  the  law  is  not  at  present  strong 
enough  to  prevent  it,  it  must  be  made  so, — at  least  it  must  be  submitted  to  Parliament 
to  make  it  so.  And  I  have  no  doubt,  if  we  take  our  measures  wisely,  (that  is,  upon 
full  proof  that  the  assembly  is  truly  representative,  however  its  title  may  be  disguised,) 
that  Parliament  will  see  the  absolute  necessity  of  putting  it  down. 

"I  certainly  agree  with  you,  that  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  government  of  the 
country  to  take  a  decided  line  upon  the  question  itself,  independent  of  the  temporary 
objection  to  it  upon  the  ground  of  the  king's  feelings ;  but  I  have  a  sanguine  belief 
that  when  the  time  comes  for  taking  that  decided  line,  that  most  of  those  who  now 
concur  with  us  in  opposing  the  claims  upon  mere  temporary  reasons,  will  see  the 
necessity  of  resisting  them  upon  general  principles;  and  that  this  very  measure  of 
bringing  their  R.  C.  bishops  into  the  Representative  Assembly,  will  go  a  great  way  to 
opening  people's  eyes  upon  this  subject.  We  shall  meet  at  four. 

"  I  am,  my  dear  lord,  yours  most  truly, 

"SPENCER  PERCEVAL. 
"  Downing  Street,  July  25th,  1811." 

Informations  were  accordingly  filed  against  several  persons.  One 
of  them,  a  Mr.  Kirwan,  was  convicted ;  and  the  government,  having 
established  their  construction  of  the  law,  and  being  in  hopes  to  con- 
ciliate by  lenity,  were  content  that  a  nominal  fine  should  be  imposed 
on  Mr.  Kirwan,  and  directed  the  discontinuance  of  the  remaining 
prosecutions. 

(Mr.  Perceval  to  Lord  Eldon.") — (Extract.) 

(Not  dated  ;  written  probably  August,  1811.) 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  am  much  vexed  at  thinking  I  shall  be  out  of  the  way  when  you  come  next  to 
Windsor,  as  I  should  have  been  particularly  glad  to  have  seen  you.  I  must,  however, 
content  myself  with  opening  the  subject  by  letter,  on  which  I  should  have  had  to  com- 
municate with  you  in  person  if  we  were  to  meet.  It  respects  no  less  a  matter  than, 
the  meeting  of  Parliament.  It  must  meet  and  sit,  you  know,  for  six  weeks  before 
the  restrictions  of  the  Regency  Bill  can  expire.  The  day  pointed  out  in  the  act  for 

*  See  statutes  51  Geo.  3.  c.  127  and  54  Geo.  3.  c.  52. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  367 

their  expiration  is  the  1st  of  February.  If  Parliament  does  not  meet  before  Christ- 
mas, of  course  the  restrictions  must  be  prolonged  from  the  1st  of  February  for  six 
•weeks  from  the  date  of  its  meeting.  Under  these  circumstances,  I  think  we  can  hardly 
pass  over  the  next  prorogation  without  knowing  the  prince's  pleasure,  whether  he 
thinks  it  so  material  that  the  regency  restrictions  shall  expire  on  the  1st  of  February 
as  to  make  it  necessary  that  Parliament  should  meet  before  Christmas.  This  is  a 
point  so  very  much  of  feeling  for  H.  R.  H.  himself,  and  in  which  he  is  so  directly  and 
personally  interested,  that  I  cannot  but  think  myself  he  ought  to  have  it  submitted  to 
his  most  free  decision  with  as  little  opinion  and  advice  from  his  servants  upon  the 
point  as  can  be.  But  if  he  should  determine,  as  he  naturally  may  and  probably  will, 
that  Parliament  shall  so  meet  as  that  the  restrictions  shall  expire  on  the  day  men- 
tioned, it  is  a  pretty  material  consideration,  on  which  we  should  form  an  opinion, 
whether  it  should  not  meet  so  long  before  Christmas  as  to  enable  us  to  arrange,  before 
the  Christmas  vacation,  the  household  and  any  other  questions  which  Parliament  may 
have  to  provide  for.  I  conclude,  till  I  hear  the  contrary  suggested,  that  our  opinions 
will  be,  that  the  household  arrangement,  &c.,  should  be  concluded  before  the  present 
restrictions  expire  ;  and,  if  so,  it  will  not  be  desirable,  I  think,  to  adjourn  at  Christmas, 
with  that  work  commenced  but  left  imperfect. 

»  *  ***** 

*  "To  conclude  upon  these  questions,  and  such  as  may  be  connected  with  them,  I 
think  it  will  be  essentially  necessary  that  we  should  have  our  cabinet  friends  meet  in 
force,  either  in  the  last  week  in  September  or  the  first  week  of  October;  and  they 
ought  to  know  what  the  business  is,  and  that  it  is  probabale  they  may  be  detained 
for  a  few  days.  I  should  like,  therefore,  to  know  from  you  what  time,  which  would 
answer  these  purposes,  would  best  suit  you  to  be  fixed  for  the  assembling  our  cabinet 
friends. 

"I  am,  my  dear  lord,  yours  most  truly, 

"  S.  PEHCETAL." 

A  meeting  of  the  queen's  council  at  Windsor,  for  the  ascertainment 
of  his  majesty's  state  of  health,  took  place  in  the  latter  part  of  August ; 
but  the  symptoms  were  not  of  such  a  nature  as  to  afford  hopes  of  any 
speedy  recovery.  The  lord  chief  justice,  who  was  detained  from  the 
meeting  by  the  business  of  his  circuit,  writes  thus : — 

(Lord  Ellenborough  to  Lord  Eldon.) — (Extract.) 

"I  shall  be  anxious  also  to  learn  the  result  of  your  deliberations  on  the  important 
question  which  was  to  be  considered  by  you  on  Saturday  last. — My  maxim  is  always 
on  such  subjects, '  Salus  Regis,  suprema  lex,' — and  to  which,  or  the  probable  chance 
of  promoting  which,  every  lesser  consideration  of  favour,  or  the  fear  of  giving  offence 
to  himself  or  others,  ought,  in  my  opinion,  to  give  way. 

"  I  remain,  with  great  regard,  my  dear  lord, 
"  Very  faithfully  yours, 

"ELIENBOBOUGH. 
"WaMershare,  near  Dover,  August  23th,  1811." 

Lord  Eldon's  genius,  unquestionably,  was  not  of  a  poetical  turn ; 
but  the  following  stanzas,  from  a  little  poem  addressed  by  him  to 
Lady  Eldon,  at  the  close  of  1811,  after  a  union  of  almost  forty  years, 
have  the  merit  of  flowing  from  a  higher  fountain  than  that  of  the 
Muses. 

"November  18th,  1811. 
"  Can  it,  my  lovely  Bessy,  be, 
That  when  near  forty  years  are  past, 
I  still  my  lovely  Bessy  see 
Dearer  and  dearer  at  the  last  T 

"  Nor  time,  nor  years,  nor  age,  nor  care, 
Believe  me,  lovely  Bessy,  will- 
Much  as  his  frame  they  daily  wear — 
Affect  the  heart,  that's  Bessy's  still. 


368  LIFE  OF  LORD 

"In  Scotland's  climes  I  gave  it  thee, —    . 
In  Scotland's  climes  I  thine  obtain'd, — 
Oh,  to  each  other  let  them  be 
True,  till  an  heaven  we  have  gain'd. 

"  ELDON." 

About  this  time  Sir  William  Scott  had  contracted  to  buy  the  Stowell 
estate  in  Gloucestershire,  on  account  of  which  he  was  to  make  a  pay- 
ment, early  in  1812,  of  about  sixty-five  thousand  pounds;  and  he  had 
prepared  himself,  at  the  end  of  December,  1811,  with  this  sum,  which 
he  was  going  to  place  to  his  own  account  with  his  bankers,  intending 
it  to  remain  there  till  a  certain  early  day,  which  had  been  fixed  for 
the  execution  of  the  conveyances.  In  his  way  to  the  city  for  this  pur- 
pose, he  had  occasion  to  call  on  the  chancellor,  to  whom  he  men- 
tioned the  sum  he  was  about  to  deposit.  Lord  Eldon,  observing 
upon  the  magnitude  of  the  amount,  recommended  that,  instead  of 
leaving  it  with  any  banker,  he  should  keep  it,  for  the  few  days  which 
would  intervene  before  the  conveyance,  in  his  own  house.  Sir  W. 
Scott  followed  this  advice ; — and  on  the  2d  of  January  his  bankers, 
stopped  payment. 

It  has  been  surmised  that  Lord  Eldon  had  learned  the  probability 
of  this  failure  through  some  private  channel,  or  been  led  to  suspect  it, 
from  some  circumstance  which  had  come  before  him  judicially;  but 
there  is  no  apparent  ground  for  this  conjecture  ;  and  his  advice  seems 
to  have  proceeded  solely  from  his  habitual  caution,  which  led  him  to 
apprehend  that  65,000/.  was  too  large  a  sum  for  the  owner  to  leave, 
without  security  or  some  special  reason  in  the  possession  of  any  body 
else. 

The  particular  physicians  who  had  succeeded  in  the  treatment  of 
his  majesty's  disorder  in  the  years  1801  and  1804,  had  not  been 
called  in  upon  this  last  attack,  the  queen,  it  should  seem,  being 
apprehensive  that  there  were  certain  associations  connected  in  his 
majesty's  mind  with  their  presence  of  a  nature  likely  to  increase  his 
excitement.  But  when  the  spring,  the  summer  and  the  autumn  had 
passed  away  without  any  decisive  improvement  in  his  health,  it  ap- 
peared to  Lord  Eldon  and  some  others  of  the  council,  to  be  indispen- 
sable that  some  trial  should  be  made  of  those  attendants  whose  treat- 
ment, in  the  two  former  instances,  had  been  followed  with  speedy 
success.  Lord  Eldon  offered  this  advice  to  the  queen,  who  dissented 
from  it.  He  then  thought  it  his  duty  to  prepare  and  submit  to  her 
majesty  a  formal  representation  in  writing.  It  appears  to  have  been 
received  by  the  queen  with  the  consideration  due  to  so  careful  and 
loyal  a  remonstrance ;  for,  on  the  9th  of  the  same  month  of  October, 
both  Dr.  Simmons  and  Dr.  John  Willis  were  permitted  to  see  the  king, 
upon  whose  state  they,  together  with  the  other  physicians,  were  exa- 
mined in  January  by  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Lords.  The  result 
of  this  examination,  however,  gave  little  encouragement  to  the  hope 
of  his  majesty's  recovery. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  369 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
1811—1812. 

Confirmation  of  the  ministry:  letters  of  Mr.  Perceval  to  Lord  Eldon  and  of  Lord 
Eldon  to  Mr.  Perceval. — Debates:  on  frame  breaking:  on  the  constitution  of  the 
ministry. — State  of  parties. — Catholic  question  :  Lord  Eldon's  speech. — Letter  of 
Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire:  removal  of  the  prince's  prejudices  against  Lord  Eldon. 
— Mr.  M.  A.Taylor's  chancery  motions  and  committees  :  Sir  S.  Romilly's  Diary: 
Letter  of  Lord  Eldon  to  Mr.  Perceval. — Assassination  of  Mr.  Perceval:  narrow 
escape  of  Lord  Eldon :  letters  of  Princess  Elizabeth  and  of  Lord  Eldon  :  Mr.  Per- 
ceval's merits:  tribute  to  them  from  Mr.  Canning. 

If  would  have  been  necessary,  as  Mr.  Perceval  reminded  Lord  Eldon 
in  his  letter  of  August,  1811,  that  Parliament  should  meet  six  weeks 
before  the  1st  of  February,  1812,  if  the  restrictions  were  intended  to 
determine  on  that  day.  The  prince  regent,  however,  had  too  much 
of  delicacy,  or  at  least  of  good  taste,  to  assemble  the  legislature  for 
such  a  purpose  at  an  unusual  season ;  and  accordingly  its  meeting  for 
the  dispatch  of  business  did  not  take  place  till  January,  1812.  On 
the  7th  of  that  month,  the  session  was  opened  by  commission,  in  a 
speech  delivered  by  the  lord  chancellor  on  behalf  of  the  regent ;  and 
as  the  restrictions  were  to  cease  in  six  weeks  from  that  date,  and  no 
symptoms  of  improvement  were  discoverable  in  the  sovereign's  mental 
health,  it  became  apparent  that  the  prince  regent  would  shortly  have 
to  consider  of  some  definitive  arrangement  for  the  future  conduct 
of  public  affairs.  By  this  time,  Mr.  Perceval,  who,  as  the  head  of  the 
government,  was  naturally  and  necessarily  the  minister  in  most  fre- 
quent communication  with  the  regent,  had  acquired  much  of  his  royal 
highness's  confidence ;  but  this  had  not  yet  extended  itself  to  the  lord 
chancellor,  who  was  still  an  object  of  considerable  suspicion  to  the 
prince  and  his  immediate  courtiers.  Mr.  Perceval,  however,  did  not 
the  less  on  that  account  continue  to  behave  with  his  characteristic 
frankness  to  the  chancellor,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  postscript  of  the 
note  which  follows :  — 

"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  think  it  may  possibly  be  convenient,  that  you  and  Liverpool  and  myself  should 
meet,  for  a  few  minutes,  before  we  assemble  at  Carlton  House  to-morrow: — if  you 
agree,  perhaps  you  will  call  here  at  about  half  past  one, 

"  I  am,  my  dear  lord, 

"  Yours  most  truly, 

"  SP.  PERCEVAL. 
"  Downing  Street,  Jan.  18th,  1812. 

"  I  have  had  a  hint  this  evening,  that  it  was  very  material  I  should  hear  what  you 
have  to  state  to  me  with  great  prudence" 

The  first  practical  proceeding  of  the  regent,  towards  a  re-arrange- 
VOL.  i. — 24 


LIFE  OF  LORD 

ment  of  his  ministry,  was  a  letter  addressed  by  him,  on  the  13th  of 
February,  to  the  Duke  of  York,  in  which  the  regent,  after  stating  that 
his  sense  of  filial  duty  had  originally  been  his  sole  motive  for  retaining 
his  father's  ministers,  adverted  to  the  recent  successes  of  the  great 
contest  in  the  Peninsula,  and  declared  his  resolve  to  persevere  in  the 
present  system.  "  I  cannot  withhold,"  continued  his  royal  highness, 
"my  approbation  from  those  who  have  honourably  distinguished 
themselves  in  support  of  it.  I  have  no  predilections  to  indulge,  no 
resentments  to  gratify,  no  objects  to  attain  but  such  as  are  common  to 
the  whole  empire." — "  Having  made  this  communication  of  my  senti- 
ments in  this  new  and  extraordinary  crisis  of  our  affairs,  I  cannot 
conclude  without  expressing  the  gratification  I  should  feel  if  some  of 
those  persons,  with  whom  the  early  habits  of  my  public  life  were 
formed,  would  strengthen  my  hands  and  constitute  a  part  of  my 
government."  These  sentiments  he,  in  the  same  letter,  authorized 
the  Duke  of  York  to  communicate  to  Lord  Grey,  with  liberty  to  the 
latter  to  make  them  known  to  Lord  Grenville.  A  postscript  was 
added,  in  these  words:  "I  shall  send  a  copy  of  this  letter  imme- 
diately to  Mr.  Perceval." 

As  soon  as  this  project  became  known  to  Lord  Eldon,  and  before 
he  had  any  means  of  learning  in  what  way  it  would  be  received  by 
Lords  Grey  and  Grenville,  he  addressed  to  Mr.  Perceval  the  follow- 
ing letter,  which  eminently  deserves  the  attention  of  all  speculators 
in  coalitions  between  parties  of  opposite  principles :  — 

"  Saturday,  (probably  Feb.  15.) 
"  Dear  Perceval, 

"As  it  may  not  be  absolutely  impossible  that,  in  the  course  of  this  day,  during  my 
absence  at  Windsor,  something  may  pass,  tending  to  proposal  to  associate  me  in  a 
talk  with  Lords  G.  and  G.  upon  junction,  permit  me  to  state,  in  a  few  words,  that  my 
determination  to  take  no  part  in  that  talk  is  founded  upon  the  following  reasons,  and, 
if  necessity  requires  it,  you  may  so  state  to  the  regent : — 

"That  I  think  it  not  consistent  with  my  honour  to  take  part  in  a  negotiation  for  a 
junction,  in  which  junction  I  can  take  no  part.  I  can  take  no  part  in  it. 

"  Because,  having  been  twenty-nine  years  in  Parliament  without  deviating,  as  far 
as  I  can  recollect,  from  my  principles  with  respect  to  the  constitution  of  the  country 
and  the  means  of  supporting  its  monarchy,  there  appears  to  have  been,  in  that  long 
course  of  years,  no  agreement  in  those  principles  between  Lord  Grey  and  myself. 

"  Because  there  was  no  such  agreement  between  Lord  Grey  and  Lord  Grenville 
between  1783  and  1801. 

"  Because  there  has  been  no  such  agreement  between  them  and  myself  since 
1801. 

"  Because  my  decided  opinion  is,  that  all  attempts  at  making  strong  administra- 
tions upon  broad  bottoms,  must  be  known  to  those  who  are  practised  politicians,  to 
be  frauds  upon  the  country  originally, — and  frauds  which,  whether  such  politicians 
know  that  or  not,  can  no  longer  be  effectually  practised  upon  the  country.  The  great 
mass  of  the  people,  through  many  ranks  of  which  I  have  passed,  I  know,  hold  the 
thing,  and  the  men  that  are  engaged  in  it,  in  utter  detestation,  producing  absolute 
weakness  in  government,  and  of  course  deeply  affecting  the  interest  of  the  crown. 

"Because  the  difference  with  respect  to  Catholic  question,  American  affairs,  Span- 
ish affairs  and  bullion,  are,  in  my  opinion,  too  deep  to  be  skirfned  over. 

"  Because,  if  that  were  not  so,  differences  upon  most  essential  points  of  govern- 
ment, avowed  for  thirty  years,  clearly  establish  that  Lords  G.,  G.  and  Lord  Eldon 
'  non  bene  conveniunt.'* 

"Because  my  situation  is  peculiar.    Lord  G — y  said  in  debate,  and  Lord  G — y, 

*  — nee  in  una  sede  morantur.     Ov.  Metam.,  lib.  ii.  1.  846. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  371 

ntJ^H™^™  °th-T',i,Wh0>iif  they  C^°me  int°  administration,  must  come  intoadmi- 
stration  along  with  them,  have  said,  in  their  protest  upon  the  journals,  what  I  can 

give  no  countenance  to  by  coming  into  their  assembly  * 

"Allow  me  to  add,  that  you  know  how  much  my  heart  has  been  wrung  with  the 

difficulties  of  holding  office,  when  I  have  been  obliged,  but  I  hope  justified!  in  taking 

ihf»    nainrnl    *^o  r-f    T  V.n»n    L_.J    *_ *.  _  *.t  .*-*  I        JM"  ll1-, 

:,  with  regard  to  the 


"  Yours,  my  dear  Perceval, 

"ELDON." 

Some  of  the  same  considerations  which  actuated  Lord  Eldon  ope- 
rated also  on  the  two  leaders  of  opposition.  On  the  15th  they  re- 
turned an  answer  to  the  Duke  of  York,  in  which  they  declared  that 
their  differences  of  opinion  with  the  existing  ministers  were  too  many 
and  too  important  to  admit  of  the  proposed  union ;  especially  their 
differences  on  the  subject  of  the  Roman  Catholic  disabilities  the 
repeal  of  which  they  would  feel  it  their  first  duty  to  advise.  The 
result  of  their  refusal  was  thus  made  known  to  Lord  Eldon  :  — 

"M    d        1H  (No  date;  must  have  been  written  Feb.  1312.) 

"  The  answer  was  a  refusal— on  public  grounds— to  have  any  thing  to  do  with  us 
The  prince  sent  to  me  immediately,  to  show  the  answer  and  to  authorize  me  to  say 
that  I  was  to  be  continued  his  minister. 

"  Yours,  most  truly, 

"Sp.  PERCEVAL" 

The  only  material  change  which  now  took  place  in  the  administra- 
tion was  the  retirement  of  Marquis  Wellesley,  who  was  succeeded  as 
secretary  for  foreign  affairs  by  Lord  Castlereagh. 

A  bill  had  been  introduced  into  the  House  of  Lords  for  the  preven- 
tion of  the  offence  of  frame-breaking,  which  had  of  late  become 
alarmingly  frequent,  particularly  in  the  county  of  Nottingham.  There 
appeared  to  be  an  extensive  conspiracy  against  the  use  of  machinery, 
which  this  bill  proposed  to  defeat,  by  rendering  the  offence  of  frame- 
breaking  punishable  with  death,  and  compelling  the  parties  in  whose 
houses  the  frames  should  be  broken  to  furnish  information  to  the 
magistrates.  It  was  against  the  second  reading  of  this  bill,  on  the  27th 
of  February,  1812,  that  Lord  Byron  made  his  first  address  to  the  House 
of  Lords — a  sarcastic  discourse,  adapted  rather  to  the  taste  of  a  popu- 
lar meeting  than  to  the  business  of  a  legislative  assembly.  The  lord 
chancellor  defended  the  measure,  and  explained  the  error  of  the  notion 
that  the  general  interests  of  the  labouring  classes  had  been  injured  by 
the  introduction  of  machinery.  The  second  reading  was  carried,  and 
the  bill-proceeded.! 

The  19th  of  March  was  an  important  day  in  the  House  of  Lords; 
for  the  communication  made  by  the  prince  regent,  through  the  Duke' 
of  York,  to  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville,  was  then  brought  under  the 
consideration  of  that  branch  of  the  legislature,  by  a  motion  of  Lord 
Boringdon  to  address  the  prince  regent  for  an  administration  which 
should  unite,  as  far  as  possible,  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  all 
classes.  Some  heat  was  exhibited  very  early  in  the  debate,  and  some 

*  See  Parl.  Deb.,  Jan.  28tb,  1811,  and  Protest  in  Lords'  Journals,  same  date, 
t  52  Geo.  3.  c.  16. 


372  LIFE  OF  LORD 

speeches  to  order,  themselves  disorderly,  were  made  by  several  peers. 
Of  these  trespassers  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  lord  chancellor  was 
one ;  his  indignation  having  been  excited  by  some  animadversions 
on  the  conduct  of  the  prince  regent,  whom  he  deemed  entitled,  as  the 
representative  of  the  king,  to  the  same  respectful  forbearance  in  de- 
bate which  was  constitutionally  required  as  to  the  king  himself.  It 
was  in  the  vindication  of  this  principle  that  Lord  Eldon  slipped  into 
the  irregularity  of  alluding  to  a  former  evening's  discussion,  in  the 
course  of  which  a  peer  had  inquired  whether  a  certain  article,  in  a 
newspaper  then  produced  by  him  to  the  House,  was  a  letter  from  the 
prince  regent.  That  inquiry,  the  chancellor  warmly  declared,  was  in 
his  judgment  so  highly  improper,  that  if  any  confidential  servant  of 
his  royal  highness  had  given  an  answer  to  it,  he  would  never  again 
have  entered  the  same  room  with  that  person  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
fidential advice.  Lord  Grimston,  who  had  been  addressing  the  House 
when  this  irregular  discussion  arose,  now  finished  his  speech  with  an 
amendment,  expressive  of  gratitude  to  the  prince  regent,  and  of  con- 
fidence in  his  endeavours  to  promote  the  honour  and  welfare  of  the 
country.  The  debate  which  followed  turned  principally  on  the  claims 
of  the  Roman  Catholics,  as  being  the  subject  of  difference  which 
chiefly  prevented  a  union -of  parties. 

"  The  lord  chancellor  said,  that  before  he  could  change  his  opinions  on  that  ques- 
tion, he  must  be  convinced  that  the  principles  of  the  Revolution  were  erroneous.  At 
present  he  saw  nothing  but  danger  in  concession.  That  was  the  ground  of  his  resist- 
ance to  an  extension  of  privileges  and  power  to  the  Catholics;  and  he  would  confess 
that  whoever  resisted  it  on  any  other  grounds  deserved  to  be  an  object  of  detesta- 
tion. This  motion  sought  to  unite  the  leading  men  of  opposite  parties;  and  yet  the 
mover  himself  admitted  the  total  impossibility  of  their  co-operation.  How,  then, 
was  the  prince  regent  to  form  the  extended  administration  which  the  motion  pro- 
posed 1  As  to  the  present  ministry,  he  believed  that  the  people  of  this  good-natured 
country  were  weak  and  foolish  enough  to  sanction  it  by  their  confidence.  Good-na- 
tured people,  he  supposed,  were  always  weak;  but  let  the  cause  be  what  it  might,  it 
did  so  happen  in  point  of  fact  that  the  ministry  was  in  possession  of  the  people's 
confidence,  and  this  was  no  very  great  reason  for  addressing  the  prince  regent  to 
change  it.  If  there  was  any  power  which  could  be  regarded  as  inherent  in  the  crown, 
it  was  the  power  of  choosing  the  crown's  own  servants.  What  he  had  said  in  1807 
he  would  now  repeat,  and  that  was,  that  he  did  not  understand  what  advisers  the 
sovereign  could  be  supposed  constitutionally  to  have,  in  the  act  of  choosing  his  ad- 
ministration. After  the  administration  was  chosen,  then,  indeed,  there  existed  respon- 
sible advisers;  but  until  that  had  been  done,  he  did  not  know  where  to  look  for  them. 
How  this  reasoning  applied  to  one  of  the  letters,  he  would  leave  it  to  noble  lords  to 
judge — a  letter  which,  notwithstanding  all  he  had  heard  to  the  contrary,  he  could  not 
but  consider  it  disorderly  to  have  brought  into  discussion.  It  had  been  urged  that 
there  was  no  standing  order  against  the  mention  of  such  a  document.  Neither  was 
there  any  standing  order  pronouncing  it  unparliamentary  to  use  the  king's  name  for 
the  purpose  of  influencing  debate;  and  yet  who  was  there  that  would  deny  such  a 
proceeding  to  be  unparliamentary!  If  the  proposed  address  should  be  adopted,  Par- 
liament would  be  trenching  on  one  of  the  clearest  prerogatives  of  the  crown;  it 
would  be  attempting  nothing  less  than  that  it  should  itself  appoint  the  ministers;  and 
such  an  attempt  by  Parliament  would  here  be  the  more  glaringly  unconstitutional, 
because  no  one  act  of  the  ministers  now  in  office  had  been  marked  with  its  disap- 
probation. It  was  said  that  the  ministers  now  in  office  were  averse  from  the  consi- 
deration of  the  Roman  Catholic  petitions :  but  to  that  he  could  only  answer,  as  he 
had  often  done  before,  that  the  basis  of  his  opinions  was  the  principle  of  the  Revo- 
lution. That  principle  was  civil  freedom,  engrafted  on  religious  freedom,  on  liberal 
and  extensive  toleration;  but  still  with  a  connected  view  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
Protestant  national  church  and  of  the  Protestant  succession.  Every  thing  was  at 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  373 

that  time  done  in  entire  consistency  with  these  objects;  and  now  we  were  asked  to 
depart  from  the  establishments  then  so  wisely  and  so  liberally  formed,  and  to  depart 
from  them  without  the  provision  of  any  counterpoise  to  the  probable  danger. — After 
repeating  what  he  had  said  about  securities  in  his  speech  of  18th  June,  1811,  he 
proceeded  to  defend  the  policy  of  ministers  towards  the  United  States,  and  concluded 
by  observing  upon  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  a  government  which  should  answer 
the  description  given  by  the  address,  in  the  sense  of  its  mover." 

The  motion  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  165  to  72. 

The  refusal  of  the  Whig  leaders  to  concur  in  the  formation  of  a 
checkered  ministry  was  one  which  undoubtedly  did  them  honour; 
but  the  tone  taken  afterwards  in  debate  by  Earl  Grey  and  his  parti- 
sans, and  particularly  their  broad  insinuations  that  court  influences  and 
intrigues  had  warped  the  mind  of  the  prince  regent,  were  of  a  nature 
to  give  great  offence  to  his  royal  highness,  who,  from  this  time,  be- 
gan to  look  very  coldly  upon  his  old  acquaintances,  and  was  pre- 
sently made  the  subject  of  the  bitterest  invectives  by  their  followers, 
both  in  society  and  in  the  public  press.  His  disavowal  of  "predilec- 
tions" was  vastly  unsatisfactory  to  those  who  had  been  expecting  the 
monopoly  of  his  favour;  and  his  disclaimer  of  resentments  was  deeply 
distasteful  to  certain  fierce  spirits,  less  eager  even  for  office  itself  than 
for  the  destruction  of  those  who  had  so  long  excluded  them  from  it. 
Lord  Eldon  gives  this  sketch  of  the  temper  of  divers  parties  : — 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.)— (Extract.) 

(Post-mark,  March  30th,  1812.) 
"Dear  Brother, 

"Little  or  no  news.  The  1'Orient  Squadron  ^ave  got  into  Cherbourg.  The  game 
of  the  Princess  of  Wales  is  to  be  the  grand  sport  of  the  remainder  of  the  session. 
Her  husband  is  furious,  indeed,  with  indignation  against  the  '  early  friends.'  And  it 
is  now,  as  we  used  to  suppose  it  heretofore,  that  is,  that  he  knows  every  word  that  is 
uttered  al  Blackheath  or  Kensington.  Sidmouth  is  all  but  president  of  the  council, 
and  I  suppose  will  be  so  before  the  meeting  of  Parliament.  Some  of  the  dissenters 
are  writing  against  the  Papishes,  and  publishing  dissuasives  against  making  cause 
with  them.  The  London  clergy  petition,  and  some  few  addresses,  very  few,  come 
from  different  parts  in  favour  of  the  poor  old  church." 

The  annual  motions  in  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  for  commit- 
tees on  the  Roman  Catholic  claims,  derived,  in  1812,  a  more  especial 
and  personal  interest  from  the  prominence  which  had  been  given  to 
this  subject  among  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  Whig  leaders  for  their 
refusal  to  join  the  ministry.  The  motion  in  the  House  of  Lords  was 
made  on  the  21st  of  April,  by  the  Earl  of  Donoughmore.  Lord 
Grenville,  having  spoken  at  some  length  in  support  of  it,  was  answer- 
ed by  the  lord  chancellor. 

He  prefaced  his  speech  by  observing  that  the  petition  of  the  University  of  Oxford 
against  the  Roman  Catholic  claims,  and  his  own  connection  with  that  numerous  and 
respectable  body  of  petitioners,  rendered  it  incumbent  on  him  to  meet  the  present 
proposal  with  more  than  a  silent  vote.  This  pelition,  he  affirmed,  was  not,  as  had 
been  imputed,  the  result  of  illiberally  or  bigotry  or  intolerance,  but  of  full  and  fair 
deliberation,  of  the  well-grounded  and  loyal  attachment  which  had  ever  been  evinced 
by  that  learned  body  towards  the  constitution  of  their  country.and  of  a  just  reference 
to  the  principles  upon  which  that  constitution  was  founded  in  1688.  "  On  my  own 
part,  too,"  said  he,  "I  deny  that  I  have  ever  dealt  with  this  subject  upon  any  principle 
of  intolerance.  I  never  did,  nor  never  will  I,  give  any  vote  agains*  extending  the 
religious  or  the  civil  liberties  of  any  class  of  his  majesty's  subjects,  when  I  think  I 
can  vote  for  the  extension  consistently  with  the  security  of  our  own  establishments ; 


374  LIFE  OF  LORD 

but  I  shall  always  be  guided,  in  my  decisions  on  such  subjects,  by  what  I  conceive 
necessary  to  maintain  the  constitution  as  by  law  established  for  the  happiness  and 
security  of  the  great  whole. 

•  *  *  *  *  *    •  * 

"Will  your  lordships  give  me  leave  to  call  your  attention  to  what  the  motion  now 
before  you  is  1  It  is  that  you  will  go  into  a  committee  on  the  laws  which  exclude  Ro- 
man Catholics  from  place  and  power  in  the  state,  with  a  view  to  devise  the  means  of 
abrogating  these  laws ;  and  it  is  warmly  asserted  that  the  Protestants  of  Ireland  are 
equally  desirous  of  this  change  with  the  Roman  Catholics.  But,  my  lords,  if  you 
have  any  regard  to  the  Protestant  church  of  Ireland,  which  exists  now  not  as  a  sepa- 
rate establishment,  but  as  one  united  for  ever  by  the  act  of  Irish  union  with  the  Pro- 
testant Church  of  England,  I  ask  how  can  you  go  into  such  a  committee  and  with 
such  views,  without  affecting  the  Protestant  establishment  in  both  countries]  And 
I  shall  be  glad  also  to  know  how  you  can  exclude  from  such  a  consideration  his  ma- 
jesty's Roman  Catholic  subjects  in  Scotland!  Their  numbers  may  be  smaller,  but 
the  principle  is  the  same;  and  the  question, therefore,  must  affect  not  only  the  Esta- 
blished Church  of  England  and  Ireland,  but  also  that  of  Scotland,  where  it  must  tend 
to  do  away  the  Test  Acts,  settled  for  that  country  by  compact  made  at  the  time  of  our 
union  with  her.  Easy  as  it  may  seem  to  the  noble  lord  to  dispense  with  the  laws  of 
England  and  Ireland  upon  this  subject,  I  believe  he  will  not  find  it  so  easy  to  deal 
with  the  Test  of  the  law  of  Scotland." 

He  proceeded  to  argue,  that  the  disturbance  of  the  laws  which  were  regarded  as 
established  for  the  safety  of  the  church  ought  not  to  be  permitted  unless  clearly  shown 
to  be  necessary  for  the  tranquillity  of  the  Catholics  and  the  safety  of  the  Protestants; 
and  that  if  such  a  necessity  were  shown,  the  House  ought  not  to  interpose  the  delay 
of  a  committee,  but  to  legislate  at  once.  The  object  of  the  Revolution  had  been  to 
protect  our  Protestant  religion,  as  well  as  our  civil  liberty.  This  he  argued  from  the 
language  of  the  Bill  of  Rights,  and  from  the  authority  of  Somers  and  Hardwicke. 
Lord  Hardwicke  had  designated  Protestantism  as  the  very  keystone  of  the  constitu- 
tion; and  it  was  now  proposed  to  take  away  that  keystone,  and  bring  down  the  ruin 
of  the  whole  fabric.  It  had  been  said  that  the  union  with  Ireland  had  removed  the 
danger,  because  the  Catholics  who  might  vote  in  the  Imperial  Parliament  would  be 
but  a  small  proportion  of  the  aggregate  legislature  ;  yet  the  argument  now  urged  was 
the  danger  to  Ireland  from  the  large  proportion  of  the  Catholics  to  the  Protestants  in  that 
kingdom. — He  then  addressed  himself  to  the  proposal  of  the  veto,  commenting  upon 
the  rejection  of  it  by  the  Roman  Catholic  authorities,  and  upon  Lord  Grenville's  lan- 
guage in  his  speech  of  that  night  and  in  his  letter  to  Lord  Fingal.  He  called  for 
some  definite  security  before  he  could  consent  to  an  arrangement,  which  he  held  to 
be  so  totally  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  the  Revolution,  as  that  of  a  Protest- 
ant prince  on  the  throne  with  Roman  Catholics  sitting  in  Parliament.  He  gave  them 
full  credit  when  they  disavowed  the  sentiments  by  some  imputed  to  them,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  keeping  faith  with  heretics;  but  he  was  bound  to  consider  the  difficulties  of 
admitting  them  into  Parliament  or  into  places  of  trust  and  authority  in  the  state.  In 
Parliament  they  would  have  to  legislate  for  the  government  of  a  Protestant  church; 
in  the  councils  of  the  crown  they  would  have  to  advise  upon  the  disposal  of  Protest- 
ant bishoprics — they  who,  in  the  matter  of  their  own  bishoprics,  would  allow  to  the 
crown  no  control  whatsoever.  The  principle  of  the  constitution  from  the  days  of  the 
Revolution  downward  had  been,  and  still  was,  that  the  king  should  be  the  head  of  the 
church ;  but  the  proposal  of  the  present  motion  was  to  surround  him  with  advisers 
who  denied  his  supremacy. 

The  motion  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  174  against  102. 

(Lord  Eldm  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Swire.)— (Extract.) 

(Endorsed  April  24th,  1812.) 

"And  now,  my  dear  Swire,  allow  me  to  discuss  with  yon  my  present  situation,  and 
the  strange,  the  unaccountable  occurrences  which  have  taken  place  in  the  last 
eighteen  months.  When  my  dear  old  master  under  the  severe  dispensations  of 
Providence,  but  such  as  I  humbly  must  suppose  to  be  right,  because  they  are  the 
dispensations  of  Providence,  could  no  longer  personally  execute  his  great  functions, 
I  thought  thatf  should  have  been  as  able,  as,  most  sincerely  speaking,  I  was  willing, 
to  quit  the  labours,  which  no  man  can  endure  unless  the  same  Providence  shall  sus- 
tain him  with  the  blessings  of  health  and  composure  of  mind  and  temper,  which  are, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  375 

indeed,  but  rarely  to  be  looked  for  at  any  period  of  life,  and  at  mine,  very,  very  rarely 
indeed  to  be  looked  for. 

"The  medical  men  thought  his  majesty's  speedy  recovery  highly  probable  : — the 
prince,  therefore,  thought  that,  in  duty  to  his  father,  he  could  not  dismiss  his  father's 
servants.  How  was  it  possible  that,  whilst  he  acted  under  such  a  feeling  of  duty  to  his 
lather,  his  father's  servants  could  refuse  to  act  under  him  as  the  representative  of  his 
father?  With  wishes  as  anxious  as  ever  man  formed,  I  could  not  reconcile  to  myself 
the  notion,  that  whilst  the  father's  son  so  conducted  himself,  the  father's  most  grateful 
servant  could  refuse  to  take  his  share  in  a  state  of  things,  which,  for  the  father's  sake, 
the  son  determined  should  remain  undisturbed  by  him.  So  matters  went  on  through 
the  year  of  restricted  regency.  Before  the  close  of  it,  the  prince  had  totally  altered 
his  opinion  of  the  men  whom  he  had  hated — and  I  have  his  own  authority  for  believ- 
ing that  the  kingdom  produced  no  man  whom  he  more  hated  than  your  friend,  the 
writer  of  this  letter.  Though  the  prospect  of  his  father's  recover}'  had  grown  more 
gloomy,  and  though  I  fear  it  will  never  brighten,!  must  do  him  the  justice  to  say,  that 
he  has  always  declared  to  me  that  he  will  never  despair  till  his  father  ceases  to  live : 
and  my  own  real  opinion  is,  that  whatever  motives  his  friends  or  foes  may,  in  their 
conjectures,  ascribe  his  late  conduct  to,  he  has  been  principally  governed  by  a  feel- 
ing that,  if  his  father  should  recover,  he  would  never  forgive  himself  if  he  suffered 
him  to  awake  to  a  scene  in  which  the  father  should  see  his  servants  discarded  by  his  son. 
The  same  sentiment  appears  to  me  to  have  governed  him  with  respect  to  the  Catholic 
question,  with  regard  to  which,  I  believe  that,  after  his  father's  death,  he  will  act  with 
a  due  regard  to  the  established  religion.  But,  with  the  possibility  before  him,  though 
the  utter  improbability,  of  his  father's  recover}',  I  believe  the  world  would  not  induce 
him,  as  far  as  he  is  concerned,  to  countenance  any  measure  that  would  shock  his 
father's  feelings,  if,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  he  should  recover.  With  such  deter- 
minations on  his  part,  with"  reference  to  his  father,  daily  and  constantly  proved  to  be 
most  sincerely  adopted  by  him  in  his  intercourse  with  me,  how  could  I  possibly  refuse 
to  consent  to  what  his  entreaty  pressed  upon  me,  to  remain  in  the  service  of  a  son  so 
conducting  himself  towards  the  father  to  whom  I  owe  so  much?  or  how  could  I 
break  up  an  administration  which  must  be  succeeded  by  another  which  would  over- 
turn all  that  I  think  right?  God  knows  that  we  live  in  times  when  public  office,  if 
it  is  not  vanity,  is  literally  and  truly  labour  and  vexation  of  spirit,  and  how  I  get 
through  my  share  of  it  I  know  not: — but  God  is  very  kind  to  me.  I  have  given  you 
the  outline  of  what  has  governed  me  in  my  conduct,  and  though  I  care  not  at  all  as 
to  the  opinion  of  the  world  in  general,  I  should  be  deeply  hurt  if  YOU  could  not  ap- 
prove it.  Interest,  or  ambition,  or  even  private  wishes,  have  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it.  I  have  believed  myself  to  have  been  acting  right,  and  I  hope  in  God  that  I  have 
been  so  acting.  To  this  subject  I  confine  this  letter— I  shall  write  you  another  un 
more  trifling  subjects.  To  this  I  add  only  the  very  sincere  and  affectionate  regards 
of  Lady  E.,  Bessy,  &c.,  to  you  and  Mrs.  S.,  with  those  of  my  dear  Swire, 

"Yours  ever  most  truly, 

"EtDOX." 

In  his  Anecdote-Book,  and  in  conversation  with  Mrs.  Forster,  he 
thus  explained  the  favourable  change  in  the  regent's  opinion  of  him:— 

"His  majesty,  George  IV.,  has  frequently  told  me,  that  there  was 
no  person  in  the  whole  world  that  he  hated  so  much  as,  for  years,  he 
hated  me.  He  had  been  persuaded  that  I  endeavoured  to  keep  him 
at  a  distance  from  his  father;  but  when  he  came  into  possession  of  his 
father's  private  papers,  he  completely  changed  his  opinion  of  me,  in 
consequence  of  the  part  which,  from  my  letters,  he  found  I  had  always 
taken  with  reference  to  himself.  He  was  then  convinced  that  I  had 
always  endeavoured  to  do  the  direct  contrary  of  what  was  imputed  to 
me.  He  told  me  so  himself,  and  from  that  time  he  treated  me  with 
uniform  friendliness." 

Mr.  M.  A.  Taylor's  committee,  of  1811,  which  had  been  re- 
pointed  by  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  26th  of  February,  1 
sat  several  days  in  March  and  April,  and  reported  on  the  1 8th  of  the 
latter  month,  appending  the  new.  evidence.      Sir  S.  Romilly  thus 


376  LIFE  OF  LORD 

explains,  in  his  Diary,  the  reason  why  this  committee,  of  which  he  was 
a  member,  did  not  enter  into  the  examination  of  the  causes  of  delay. 

"April  15. — It  was  suggested  that  the  only  course  we  could  take  was  to  call  before 
us  the  principal  persons  who  practice  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  to  inquire  of  them 
ivhat,  in  their  opinion  and  from  their  observations,  were  the  causes  of  the  delay.  This 
was  very  strenuously  opposed  by  many  members  of  the  committee,  by  the  solicitor- 
general,  who  had  never  attended  it  before,  by  the  attorney-general,  by  Master  Simeon, 
Master  Morris,  Leicester,  Giffin  Wilson,  and  Kenrick.  They  said  that  so  to  proceed 
was  to  prefer  a  charge  against  the  chancellor;  that  it  was  putting  the  counsel  who 
would  be  examined  in  a  very  invidious  situation;  that  it  was  destroying  the  respect 
which  ought  to  be  preserved  towards  a  magistrate  at  the  head  of  the  judicature  of  the 
country;  and  that  it  was  not  difficult  in  any  court  to  find  some  person  who,  thinking 
his  talents  had  not  met  with  all  the  encouragement  from  the  court  which,  in  his  own 
opinion,  they  seemed  to  deserve,  entertained  and  would  deliver  a  judgment  unfavour- 
able to  the  judge.  To  this  it  was  answered,  that  it  was  very  true  .that  counsel  and 
attorneys,  who  practised  in  the  court,  would  be  put  in  a  very  unpleasant  situation,  in 
being  examined  as  to  what  might  tend  to  censure  the  judge  of  the  court  in  which 
they  practised;  but  that  there  did  not  appear  to  be  any  other  authentic  source  of 
information  which  could  be  recurred  to,  and  therefore  lhat  this  must  be  submitted  to; 
that  it  was  singular  that  the  friends  of  the  chancellor  should  take  for  granted,  that  an 
inquiry  from  the  persons  best  qualified  to  give  information  would  necessarily  crimi- 
nate him :  it  would  criminate  him  only  if  he  were  really  to  blame,  and  if  he  were,  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  committee  to  ascertain  the  fact  that  the  objections  now  made  were 
in  truth  objections  to  the  appointment  of  any  committee,  and  the  committee  being 
appointed,  it  was  too  late  to  make  them;  that  it  was  very  true,  that  some  one  or  two 
persons  might,  perhaps,  be  found  in  a  court  of  justice,  who,  from  pique  and  disappoint- 
ment, might  be  desirous  to  calumniate  and  injure  the  judge;  but  for  one  such  person, 
it  was  probable  that  there  would  be  found  twenty  who  were  eager  to  palliate  the  defects, 
to  exaggerate  the  merits,  and  to  seek  the  countenance  and  favour  of  the  judge  in 
whose  court  they  practised.  To  bring  the  matter  to  a  decision,  I  moved  that  Mr. 
Richards,  as  being  the  senior  counsel  attending  the  court,  who  is  not  in  Parliament, 
should  be  summoned  to  attend  and  give  evidence.  The  seven  persons  I  have  already 
named  voted  against  this  resolution;  those  who  voted  for  it  were  only  six  in  number, 
Martin,  Homer,  Brougham,  Abercromby,  Bankes  and  myself.  Taylor,  the  chairman, 
had  a  right  to  vote,  and  then  to  give  the  casting  vote,  and  by  this  means  the  question 
would  have  been  carried  ;•  but  Taylor  did  not  know  this,  and  did  not  vote,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  the  question  was  lost.  This  puts  an  end  to  the  committee  for  any 
useful  purpose."* 

It  does  not  very  clearly  appear  by  what  accident  Sir  S.  Romilly  and 
the  rest  of  the  six  neglected  to  apprise  poor  Mr.  Taylor  of  the  right 
which  he  thus  suffered  to  slip  from  his  hands.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
Taylor,  when  he  found  out  the  blunder  which  he  had  made,  and 
which  his  good-natured  friends  no  doubt  were  very  ready  to  tell  him 
of,  when  the  information  came  too  late  to  help  him,  was  very  uneasy 
till  he  could  get  a  chance  for  retrieving  himself.  Within  a  few  days, 
therefore,  he  was  again  in  motion. 

(Mr.  M.  A.  Taylor  to  Mr.  Perceval.) 

"  Whitehall,  April  27th,  1812. 
"Dear  Sir, 

"As  I  have  not  heard  from  you  that  any  alteration  has  taken  place  with  respect  to 
the  continuance  of  the  bankruptcy  jurisdiction  with  the  office  of  lord  chancellor,  I  am 
desirous  of  mentioning  that,  early  in  the  ensuing  week,  I  shall  call  the  attention  of 
the  House  to  the  late  decision  of  the  committee,  the  substance  of  which  I  communi- 
cated to  you. 

"  You  are  in  possession  of  my  general  opinion  on  the  subject,  and  I  understood  that 
you  were  to  have  some  conversation  with  Lord  Eldon  and  Lord  Liverpool  on  the 
arrangement  I  proposed. — I  have  the  pleasure  to  remain,  with  great  esteem, 

"Yours  most  faithfully, 

"  M.  A.  TATLOH. 

"Right  Hon.  Spencer  Perceval." 

*  Memoirs  of  Romilly's  Life,  vol.  iii.pp.  30,  31. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  377 

Mr.  Perceval's  communication  of  this  note  to  the  chancellor  drew 
from  the  latter  a  response,  which  evinced  and  even  confessed  a  degree 
of  irritability  rather  unusual  with  him,  and  vastly  over-proportioned  to 
the  importance  of  the  assailant. 

(April,  or  beginning  of  May,  1812.) 
"  Dear  Perceval, 

"I  return  you  the  enclosed  letter.  I  feel  very  unwilling  to  say  any  thing  myself 
upon  it.  By  the  appointment  of  the  Commons'  committee,  (which  I  know  to  have 
been  the  effect  of  surprise,  and  the  revival  of  which  I  believe  to  have  been  unavoid- 
able, neither  of  those  circumstances  being,  however,  in  any  degree  intelligible  either 
to  friends  or  foes  in  the  profession  in  Westminster  Hall,)  and  by  the  fact  that  that 
committee  has  been  formed,  not  to  inquire  whether  the  business  of  the  House  of  Lords, 
(such  as  it  now  is  and  never  before  has  been,)  together  with  that  of  the  Court  of 
Chancery,  (whether  it  is  increased  or  not,)  requires  more  judicial  assistance,  but  to 
inquire  into  .the  causes  of  the  delays  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  thereby  assuming  that 
there  hath  been  something  blameable,  as  there  may  have  been  ;  by  those  circumstances, 
I  have  now  sat  in  my  court  for  above  twelve  months,  an  accused  culprit,  tried  by  the 
hostile  part  of  my  own  bar,  upon  testimony  wrung  from  my  officers  and  without  the 
common  civility  of  even  one  question  put  by  the  committee  to  myself,  in  such  mode 
of  communication  as  might  have  been  in  courtesy  adopted.  When  I  say  that  I  know 
that  I  am,  and  that  my  officers,  and  that  my  successors  will  be,  degraded  by  all  this,  I 
say  what  I  think  I  do  know.  If  this  occasion  surprise  in  others,  they  will  at  least  see 
that  my  mind  is  too  sore  and  too  distempered  to  make  it  fit  that  I  should  decide  upon 
Taylor's  question.  Does  he  mean  to  ask  me  whether  I  am  to  prefer  a  plan  of  his,  in 
preference  to  that,  which,  putting  my  own  judgment  out  of  the  case,  has  been  sanc- 
tioned by  the  unanimous  opinion  of  a  numerous  committee  in  the  Lords,  with  such 
professional  assistance  as  that  committee  had  1  I  wish  you  to  consult  Redesdale  and 
Grant,  and  any  other  you  think  it  right  to  consult. 

"  Bankruptcy  is  too  important  to  be  taken  altogether  from  the  chancellor.  It  is  not 
business  enough  for  a  judge,  if  he  have  no  other.  There  is  no  reason  why  there 
should  be  an  appeal  from  an  assistant  judge,  in  such  petitions  in  bankruptcy  as  come 
before  him  either  by  the  choice  of  the  parties  or  by  the  direction  of  the  chancellor. 

"Though  I  think  a  man  a  fool  who  affects  to  think  chancery  business  not  increased, 
yet,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  suppose  it  to  be  that  it  is  not  increased.  I  presume 
nobody  will  deny  that  the  House  of  Lords'  business  is,  unless  he  can  persuade  him- 
self that  25  and  300  are  equal  numbers:  and  I  cannot  but  think,  that  if  an  assistant 
judge  does  not  take  a  share  of  the  suits  in  chancery,  as  well  as  the  bankrupt  petitions, 
the  Lords'  appeals  will  not  be  the  least  relieved.  Six  weeks  would  do  for  the  bank- 
ruptcies of  a  year.  But  I  beg  that  others  may  decide.  Taylor  is  a  great  man,  and 
was  long  ago  such  a  wise  one,  that  I  suppose  he  must  be  known  to  be  somehow 
related  to  Jeremy  Taylor,  the  Ductor  dubitantium,  when  he  overrules,  with  his  mighty 
vult  et  jubet,  all  his  doubting  brethren  of  the  profession  of  which  he  was  such  an 
ornament.  Yours, 


Mr.  Taylor  brought  the  subject  before  the  House  on  the  6th  of  May, 
by  moving  that  it  should  be  a  special  instruction  to  the  committee  to 
examine  barristers  and  solicitors  practising  in  the  Court  of  Chancery, 
touching  the  causes  of  delay  in  that  court.  That  instruction  was 
objected  to,  a's  tending  to  cast  upon  the  chancellor  the  blame  of  a 
delay,  which  had  been  proved  to  have  arisen  from  the  great  increase 
of  the  business,  and  the  motion  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  84 
to  20. 

The  government,  so  recently  fixed  by  the  regent's  acceptance  of  his 
father's  ministers,  now  received  a  sudden  and  appalling  blow  in  the 
person  of  Mr.  Perceval,  who,  on  the  llth  of  May,  as  he  was  entering 
the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons,  was  shot  by  one  Bellingham, 
and  expired  on  the  instant.  It  appears  that  the  motive  of  the  assassin 
was  merely  the  desire  of  revenging  himself  upon  any  one,  it  mattered 


LIFE  OF  LORD 

not  which  of  the  members  of  administration,  on  account  of  an  imputed 
neglect  of  the  British  minister  at  St.  Petersburg  to  procure  him 
redress  for  certain  commercial  losses  which  he  had  sustained  in  Rus- 
sia. In  the  earlier  part  of  the  afternoon,  his  object  seems  to  have  been 
the  chancellor:  who,  in  his  Anecdote  Book,  thus  records  the  circum- 
stances relating  to  himself,  chiefly  on  information  from  his  officers : — 

"  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  I  had  a  most  providential  escape, 
when  Bellingham  shot  poor  Perceval.  I  sat  in  the  Court  of  Chancery 
at  Westminster:  during  a  part  of  that  morning  Bellingham  was  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery.  When  I  left  the  court  and  went  into  my  private 
room  which  is  behind  the  court,  finding  that  I  had  time  to  take  a  walk 
before  it  was  necessary  to  go  to  the  House  of  «Lords,  I  undressed  and 
borrowed  a  great  coat  of  one  of  my  attendants,  and  a  hat,  and  then 
left  my  room,  and  went  up  the  stairs  that  lead  into  the  passages  to  the 
Houses  of  Parliament.  Bellingham  was  standing  upon  those  stairs. 
I  passed  him  thus  habited,  and  in  consequence  of  the  change  of  dress, 
he  probably  did  not  know  me  to  be  the  chancellor  whom  he  had  seen 
in  court.  A  very  short  interval  took  place  between  the  moment  at 
which  this  happened  and  his  assassinating  Perceval.  At  his  exami- 
nation before  the  council  in  the  evening,  he  stated  that  he  had  no 
particular  design  against  Mr.  Perceval — that  he  was  determined  to 
destroy  one  minister,  and  Mr.  Perceval  was  his  unfortunate  victim. 
I  was  present  at  the  council  when  he  was  examined.  My  attendants, 
about  three  weeks  after  the  assassination,  mentioned  to  me  the  other 
circumstances  here  related,  as  taking  place  before  and  after  I  had 
changed  my  dress." — Bellingham,  when  standing  at  the  door  of  the 
Court  of  Chancery,  had  also  been  observed,  as  Lord  Eldon  told  Mrs. 
Forster,  to  have  his  hand  within  the  breast  of  his  coat,  as  if  ready  to 
pull  something  out  from  it. 

The  shock  of  this  event  was  felt  through  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity :  and  the  general  regret  was  very  sincerely  participated  by  the 
royal  family. 

(Princess  Elizabeth  to  the  Hon.  Miss  Scott.) — (Extract.) 
"My  dear  Madam, 

"The  queen  has  commanded  me  to  write  you  a  few  lines,  which  ought  to  have  been 
written  this  morning,  to  inquire  after  the  chancellor:  for,  well  knowing  how  deeply 
he  feels,  she  greatly  dreads  that  the  shock  of  yesterday  may  have  injured  his  health. 
It  is  impossible  not  to  shrink  with  horror  when  one  thinks  of  an  Englishmen  commit- 
ting murder,  and  doubly  striking  when  one  must  ever  mourn  for  the  loss  of  so  excel- 
lent a  man  as  Mr.  Perceval.  We  live  in  most  awful  times:  for  the  loss,  both  public 
and  private,  must  be  equally  felt.  We  really  are  so  horror-struck,  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  me  to  describe  our  feelings.  Your  own  good  heart  will  better  judge,  than  my 
pen  relate,  the  agony  and  misery  that  was  occasioned  by  my  brother  Adolphus's  ar- 
rival last  night.  This  family  have  lost  one  who  has  ever  proved  real  affection  and 
attachment,  and  my  beloved  father,has  lost  a  most  upright  and  conscientious  minis- 
ter. Our  only  comfort,  in  the  midst  of  our  own  trial  is,  that  my  father  is  spared  this 
affliction  :  for  I  verily  believe,  had  it  pleased  the  Almighty  to  have  allowed  of  its  being 
told  him,  it  would  have  totally  overset  him. 

"The  ways  of  Providence  are  dark  and  intricate,  and  we  too  blind  to  understand. 
It  is  our  duty  to  submit  and  trust  in  God's  mercy.  That  He  may  mercifully  watch 
over  this  country  will  be  my  fervent  prayer. 

"  My  mother  commands  me  to  add  she  would  herself  have  written  to  the  lord  chan- 
cellor, but  bhe  thought  it  better  to  make  me  write,  well  knowing  his  time  is  precious, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  379 

and  that  it  was  cruel  to  add  to  his  troubles  by  desiring  an  answer.    She  begs  you  to 
explain  this,  and  I  trust  you  will  forgive  the  length  of  this  letter,  which  I  am  ashamed 
nothini  else8**16       nCrVeS     ^  "*  mustPlead  my  eicuse'  for  literally  I  can  think  of 
* 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 
"Windsor  Castle,  May  12th,  1812."  "  ELIZABETH- 

(Lord  Chancellor  Eldon  to  Queen  Charlotte.} 

"The  lord  chancellor,  offering  his  most  humble  duty  to  your  majesty,  whilst  he 
acknowledges  with  infinite  gratitude  your  majesty's  gracious  condescension  and 
goodness  in  directing  inquiries  to  be  made  respecting  the  chancellor's  health,  amidst 
the  afflicting  circumstances  in  which  he  has  been  lately  placed,  takes  leave  to  beseech 
your  majesty  to  be  persuaded  that  nothing  but  the  distress  of  his  mind  could 'have 
ong  prevented  him  from  returning  your  majesty  his  heartfelt  acknowledgments 
h?  inesT  honoured  with,  that  your  majesty  takes  some  interest  in  his 

"By  the  death  of  Mr.  Perceval,  the  lord  chancellor  has  lost  a  friend  whom  he 
valued,  esteemed  and  loved.  His  majesty's  people  have  lost  a  great  and  able  fellow- 
subject  and  statesman,  and  the  lord  chancellor  trusts  that  his  majesty  will  do  him  the 
justice  to  believe  him  when  he  adds,  that  his  majesty  and  his  august  and  illustrious 

nily  have  lost  a  servant,  whose  attachment  to  them  the  lord  chancellor  knows  to 
;  been  the  ruling  principle  in  his  heart,  and  whose  attachment  was  rendered  im- 
portant because  his  virtues  were  universally  known.  The  chancellor,  as  himself  a 
servant  of  his  majesty,  anxious  for  the  honour  and  welfare  of  all  his  majesty's  family, 
fcnds  it  difficult,  very  difficult,  to  prescribe  bounds  to  that  grief  which  daily  overwhelms 

"Bedford  Square,  May  ISth,  1812." 

Mr.  Perceval  was  inestimable  to  his  party  as  a  parliamentary  leader; 
but  he  was  not  very  generally  regarded  as  meriting  that  character  of 
"  a  great  statesman,"  which  is  thus  claimed  for  him  by  the  friend- 
ship of  Lord  Eldon.     He  did,  indeed,  possess  many  efficient  talents 
and  high  faculties,  and  particularly  and  eminently,  one  which  is  now 
justly  esteemed  among  a  statesman's  most  essential  endowments,— 
the  firmness  necessary  to  check  the  march  of  self-entitled  liberalism 
with  its  train  of  noisy,  lawless  camp-followers.     But  in  politics,  the 
values  of  certain  qualities  vary  with  the  times;  and  in  Mr.  Perceval's 
day,  when  the  best  informed  classes  of  society,  who  now  feel  it  need- 
ful to  make  a  stand  against  progressive  movement,  were  favourable 
at  least  to  such  an  amount  of  change  as  might  adjust  the  old  institu- 
tions of  the  country  to  its  modern  exigences,  the  unyielding  resolution 
of  the  minister  found  but  little  sympathy  among  persons  unconnected 
with  his  party.     So  far  from  being  accounted  to  him  for  a  virtue,  it 
was  set  down  as  his  chief  defect.     With  somewhat  more  of  justice, 
he  was  reputed  to  be  deficient  in  extent  and  comprehensiveness  of 
view.      The  course  of  his  earlier  life  had  not  left  him  sufficient 
leisure  for  studying  the  general  philosophy  of  politics,  and  the  safe 
limits  of  the  antagonist  forces  which  mingle  in  the  constitution  of  a 
free  community.    Belonging,  by  birth  and  connection,  to  'a  party  whose 
great  maxim  was  to  keep  things  as  they  were,  he  had  taken  it  for 
granted  that  their  prescriptive  opinions  must  be  right.     Of  those 
opinions  he  was  suddenly  called  from  his  profession  to  become  the 
ministerial  champion ;  and  whatever  tended  to  shake  or  even  qualify 
them,  he  regarded  as  prejudicial  to  the  monarchy  and  to  the  church, 


380  LIFE  OF  LORD 

to  both  of  which  he  was  sincerely  attached.  He,  therefore,  with  the 
dauntless  courage  of  his  nature,  directed  the  whole  force  of  a  strong 
and  ready,  though  near-sighted  mind,  against  innovation  in  general, 
without  sufficiently  distinguishing  in  favour  of  demonstrated  improve- 
ment. But  his  opposition,  however  zealous,  was  generous  and  frank ; 
and  though,  from  the  want  of  early  training  for  that  kind  of  conflict, 
he  was  under  some  disadvantage  in  his  first  struggles  with  the  prac- 
tised politicians  of  the  Whig  opposition,  yet  he  took  up,  and  employed 
with  so  much  quickness,  judgment  and  spirit,  the  materials  furnished 
to  him  by  his  colleagues  and  subalterns,  that,  possessing  also  the  gift 
of  a  correct  and  perspicuous  style,  he  soon  became,  by  the  confession 
of  all  parties,  one  of  the  most  powerful  debaters  of  his  time.  He  had 
personal  qualities,  too,  which  contributed  materially  to  his  acceptation 
in  debate.  His  domestic  virtues,  his  fidelity  to  his  friends,  his  ardent 
and  almost  flagrant  zeal,  his  sincerity,  his  disinterestedness,  his  unaf- 
fected piety,  his  extensive  benevolence  and  charity,  all  told  upon  his 
parliamentary  position,  and  fortified  him  as  a  minister,  by  the  regard 
which  they  won  for  him  as  a  man.  No  kindlier  tribute  was  ever  be- 
stowed upon  the  memory  of  a  rival  than  the  graceful  allusion  to  his 
death  in  Mr.  Canning's  celebrated  speech  of  the  22d  of  the  following 
June,  on  the  Roman  Catholic  question : — 

"When  I  first  gave  notice  of  this  motion,  (early  in  the  month  of  May,)  I  expected 
that  my  most  formidable  antagonist  upon  it  would  be  my  late  lamented  friend;  and 
I  should  have  argued  the  question  with  him  in  no  other  spirit  and  with  no  other 
feelings  than 

'  If  a  brother  should  a  brother  dare' 

to  the  proof  aud  exercise  of  arms.  I  know  not  who  is  to  buckle  on  his  armour  against 
me  this  day.  Would  to  God  that  he  were  here  to  wield  his  weapons  with  his  own 
hand — that  the  cause  had  the  advantage  of  his  abilities,  so  we  had  the  benefit  of  his 
presence, — 

'Tuque  tuis  armis,  nos  te  poteremur,  Achilla !'  " 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  381 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

1812. 

Reconstruction  of  ministry :  minutes  of  cabinet:  unsuccessful  negotiations  with  Lord 
Wellesley  and  Mr.  Canning:  address  of  the  House  of  Commons  for  an  efficient 
administration :  unsuccessful  negotiations  of  Lord  Wellesley  and  of  Lord  Moira, 
with  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville:  re-establishment  of  the  pre-existing  cabinet,  under 
Lord  Liverpool. — Strictures  of  Sir  S.  Romilly  on  the  negotiations. — Catholic  ques- 
tion: speech  of  Lord  Eldon. — Arrears  of  judicial  business. — Letters  from  the 
queen  to  Lord  Eldon,  and  from  Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire. — Dissolution  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  grounds  of  it:  letter  from  Lord  Liverpool. — Fire  at  Encombe:  letters  of 
Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott. 

THE  prince  regent,  thus  deprived  of  his  principal  adviser,  had  now 
to  repair  or  reconstruct  his  government.  How  the  first  steps  were 
taken  for  this  purpose  will  be  seen  from  the  following  extracts  of  me- 
moranda found  among  the  chancellor's  papers.  They  are  chiefly  in 
his  own  handwriting. 

The  chancellor,  understanding  himself  to  be  authorized  by  the  prince  regent,  to 
learn  the  sentiments  of  the  cabinet,  whether  they  would  consider  it  to  be  their  duty,  if 
called  upon  by  his  royal  highness,  to  carry  on  the  administration  of  the  government 
under  any  member  of  the  present  cabinet  whom  his  royal  highness  might  think  proper 
to  select  as  the  head  of  it,  requests  that  the  cabinet  will  be  pleased  to  express  their 
sentiments  upon  this  point,  that  he  may  be  enabled  to  lay  them  before  his  royal  high- 
ness. 

Answer. — The  cabinet  would  feel  it  to  be  their  duty,  if  called  upon  by  the  prince 
regent,  to  carry  on  the  administration  of  the  government  under  any  member  of  the 
present  cabinet  whom  his  royal  highness  might  think  proper  to  select  as  the  head  of 
it.  They  consider  it  to  be  at  the  same  time  incumbent  upon  them  most  humbly  to 
submit  to  his  royal  highness,  that,  under  all  the  present  circumstances  of  the  country, 
the  result  of  their  endeavour  to  carry  on  the  government  must,  in  their  judgment,  be 
very  doubtfuL  It  does  not,  however,  appear  to  them  to  be  hopeless,  if  the  administra- 
tion is  known  to  possess  the  entire  confidence  of  the  prince  regent. 

Then  follow  these  rough  notes  of  the  opinions  given  by  different 
members  of  the  cabinet  respecting  the  materials  out  of  which  the 
ministry  was  to  be  reconstructed : — 

Are  you  of  opinion  that  G.  and  G.  out  (Grey  and  Grenville)  and  W.  and  C.  out, 
(Wellesley  and  Canning,)  you  can  carry  on  the  government? 
Mulgrave. — No. 
Lord  Sid.— Doubtful. 
Harrowby. — Not. 

Bathurst.— Dangerous  to  P.  (prince)  and  country. 
Bucking. — Doubtful. 
Westmoreland. — Yes. 
Camden.— Very  doubtful,  not  desperate. 
Melville. — Very  improbable. 
Liverpool. — Doubtful,  not  desperate. 
Castlereagh. — Doubtful,  to  say  the  least,  without  a  proposition.* 

*  A  proposition  for  junction. 


382  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Ryder. — Extremely  difficult. 
Eldon. — It  might. 

1.  Nobody,  with  Lord  W.  (Wellesley)  at  the  head. 

2.  If  the  P.  puts  at  the  head  any  member  of  the  present  administration  will  the  rest 
support  him! 

Yes. 

If  that  member  thinks  of  talking  with  W.  and  C.,  will  you  allow  him  to  do  so? 

Those  of  the  answers  to  this  last  question,  which  can  be  deciphered, 
are  very  various;  some  "aye,"  some  "no;"  one  for  "leaving  it  to 
the  individual;"  Lord  Castlereagh's  answer  is, 
"Decline  being  an  obstacle,  but  reserve  my  own  determination." 

There  seems,  however,  to  have  been  a  general  concurrence  in  the 
opinion  (which,  on  the  first  question,  was  given  by  Lord  Castlereagh), 
that  at  all  events  the  existing  ministers  would  have  less  chance  of 
public  support  for  a  government  of  their  own,  if  office  should  not 
previously  have  been  offered  either  to  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville  or 
to  Lord  Wellesley  and  Mr.  Canning.  A  negotiation  was  presently 
opened  with  the  two  latter  by  the  Earl  of  Liverpool,  which  forms  a 
subject  of  speculation  in  the  following  letter. 

(Not  dated;  probably  May  18th,  1512.) 
"Dearest  Brother, 

"The  funeral,*  attendance  on  the  prince  and  cabinet,  on  Saturday,  employed  me 
till  several  hours  after  the  post  hour.  I  should  have  lamented  this  the  more,  if  I  had 
had  any  thing  to  communicate.  Nothing  is  in  any  degree  settled.  The  particulars 
of  what  has  been  passing  I  cannot  commit  to  paper.  If  I  am  a  political  coward,  as  I 
may  very  justly  be  thought,  it  is,  as  it  appears  to  me,  a  very  melancholy  truth,  that  I 
can  find  nobody  among  those  whom  Perceval  has  left,  with  respect  to  whom,  upon 
comparison,  I  have  not  a  most  extraordinary  degree  of  political  fortitude. 

In  general,  I  believe  I  may  say,  that  attempts  are  making,  with  the  concurrence  of 
all,  to  bring  Wellesley  and  Canning  into  office.  If  they  come,  Liverpool  will  be  at  the 
head  of  the  administration,  and  Castlereagh  to  he,  among  the  House  of  Commons' 
members  of  administration,  at  the  head  of  them.  Most  think  that  W.  and  C.  will  not 
come  upon  those  terms — they  will  be  accepted  upon  no  other.  My  opinion  is,  that 
both  are  so  sick  of  being  out,  that  they  will  come  upon  such  terms.  If  they  don't,  we 
shall  try  what  we  can  do  without  them.  Upon  this  there  are  three  opinions,  two 
among  us.-  that  is,  /think  that  that  may  and  will  go  on — all  the  rest  think  that  it  must 
be  tried,  but  that  it  cannot  go  on,  and  that  things  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  G.  and  G. 
nearly  forthwith.  A  third  opinion  comes  from  gentlemen  in  the  H.  of  Commons,  who 
think  it  will  go  on — and  who  are  not  inclined  to  support  at  all,  if  W.  and  C.  do  ctjme 
in.  Upon  this  last  opinion,  however,  it  is  too  late  to  act,  if  they  bite.  Lord  Sid.  has 
behaved  very  well,  certainly;  so  has  the  regent. 

"I'll  write  to-morrow — perhaps  again  to-day,  if  any  further  material  occurs. 

"  Ever  yours  affectionately, 

"  ELDOS-." 

Lord  Eldon  was  mistaken,  however,  in  his  judgment  of  Mr.  Can- 
ning and  Lord  Wellesley,  who  both  declined  to  join  any  government 
that  should  proceed  on  the  principle  of  resistance  to  all  consideration 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  claims.  Lord  Wellesley's  answer  to  Lord 
Liverpool,  dated  May  18,  concluded  with  these  suggestions, — "  that 
a  cabinet  might  be  formed,  on  an  intermediary  principle  respecting  the 
Roman  Catholic  claims,  exempt  from  the  dangers  of  instant  unquali- 
fied concession,  and  from  those  of  inconsiderate  peremptory  exclusion," 
— and  that  "  the  entire  resources  of  the  empire  might  be  applied  to 
the  great  objects  of  the  war." 

*  Of  Mr.  Perceval. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  383 

On  the  failure  of  this  negotiation,  of  which  the  terms  were  at  that 
time  regarded  as  inadmissible,  the  regent  appears  to  have  thought  that 
his  safest  course  would  be  to  continue  his  old  ministry,  without  fur- 
ther attempt  at  any  material  change  in  its  composition.  But  this  view 
was  disturbed  on  the  21st  of  May,  by  an  address  which  Mr.  Stuart 
Wortley,  the  present  Lord  Wharncliffe,  moved  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  carried,  though  by  a  majority  of  only  four,  praying  the 
prince  regent  to  take  measures  for  forming  a  strong  and  efficient  ad- 
ministration. The  regent's  answer  to  this  address  was,  that  he  would 
take  it  into  his  serious  and  immediate  consideration.  He  forthwith 
commanded  Lord  Wellesley  to  attempt  the  formation  of  a  govern- 
ment ;  who,  thus  empowered,  requested  of  Mr.  Canning  to  inquire  of 
Lord  Liverpool  whether  the  existing  ministers,  or  any  of  them,  would 
entertain  a  proposal  for  entering  into  arrangements  with  him.  They 
all  declined  the  proposal  of  an  administration  to  be  formed  by  Lord 
Wellesley,  that  is,  of  which  Lord  Wellesley  should  be  the  head ;  and 
on  the  23d  a  negotiation  was  opened  by  him  with  the  Lords  Grey  and 
Grenville.  This  also  failed ;  but  in  one  of  the  papers  connected  with 
it,  (an  enclosure,  dated  28th  May,  and  signed  by  Lord  Wellesley  and 
Mr.  Canning,)  there  occurs  a  passage  which,  to  this  day,  remains  im- 
portant, as  a  declaration  of  those  eminent  statesmen  against  any  ex- 
tension of  the  Pro-Catholic  principle  to  the  injury  or  discouragement 
of  the  Protestants. 

"A  conciliatory  adjustment  of  the  claims  of  the  Irish  Catholics  is  the  object  which  ' 
Lord  Wellesley  and  Mr.  Canning  have  equally  at  heart;  and  it  enters  equally  into  both 
their  views,  that  to  be  conciliatory,  that  adjustment  must  be  so  framed  as  to  em- 
brace the  interests  and  opinions  of  the  English  Catholics  also,  and  to  obtnin  the  en- 
lightened and  deliberate  consent  of  the  Protestant  sof  both  countries.    THET  WOCLII  THI.NK 

AST    ADJUSTMENT    VERY    IMPERFECT   WUICH,    INSTEAD    OF    EXTIN OUISUI XCJ    DISCONTENT, 
OXLT  TRANSFERRED  IT  FROM  THE   CATHOLIC  TO  THE  PROTESTANT." 

A  commission  was  now  given  lo  Lord  Moira  to  consult  directly 
with  the  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville  on  the  composition  of  a  new 
ministry,  of  which  Lord  Wellesley  should  be  a  principal  member,  but 
not  the  actual  constructor,  and  which  should  include  men  of  all  par- 
ties. The  following  is  Lord  Eldon's  note  of  this  project: — 

(Memorandum  of  Proposition.) 

That  Lord  Wellesley  should  be  first  lord  of  the  treasury,  and  Lords  Moira  and 
Erskine  and  Mr.  Canning  should  be  of  the  cabinet. 

That,  if  the  cabinet  was  twelve,  Lords  Grenville  and  Grey  should  name  four;  if 
thirteen,  they  might  name  five. 

That  the  rest  should  be  named  by  Lord  Wellesley,  either  out  of  the  prince's  present 
servants, — N.  B.  they  had  all  refused  to  act  with  Lord  We\lesley  forming  the  adminis- 
tration,— or  any  other  persons  whomsoever. 

Lord  Wellesley  to  name  to  all  offices.  The  basis,  the  consideration  of  the  Catholic 
claims,  and  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  in  Spain. 

This  attempt  was  equally  unsuccessful  with  the  two  former.  It 
went  off  upon  a  difference  between  Lord  Moira  and  the  Whig  lead- 
ers, as  to  the  liberty  of  changing  the  appointments  to  the  great  offices 
of  the  household — a  liberty  which  Lord  Moira  thought  "on  pub- 
lic grounds  peculiarly  objectionable,"  but  which  the  Whig  leaders 
deemed  indispensable,  for  the  purpose  "of  giving  to  a  new  govern- 


LIFE  OF  LORD 


merit  that  character  of  efficiency  and  stability,  and  those  marks  of  the. 
constitutional  support  of  the  crown,  which  were  required  to  enable  it 
to  act  usefully  for  the  public  service." 

Every  effort  having  thus  been  made  in  vain,  the  prince  regent  had 
now  no  resource  but  to  fall  back  upon  his  existing  cabinet;  whom  he 
therefore  retained,  with  only  the  little  of  addition  and  modification 
which  the  loss  of  his  first  minister  had  rendered  necessary.  Before 
Mr.  Perceval's  death,  Lord  Sidmouth  had  become  president  of  the 
council  in  the  place  of  Lord  Camden,  who  continued  in  the  cabinet 
without  political  office ;  and  Lord  Buckinghamshire  and  the  present 
Lord  Melville  had  entered  the  cabinet, — the  former  as  president  of  the 
India  Board,  in  the  room  of  the  latter  who  had  succeeded  Mr.  Yorke 
as  the  head  of  the  admiralty.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Perceval,  Lord 
Liverpool,  fr6m  being  secretary  for  war  and  colonies,  became  first 
lord  of  the  treasury,  with  Mr.  Vansittart,  afterwards  Lord  Bexley,  for 
his  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer ;  and  Lord  Harrowby  was  made  pre- 
sident of  the  council  in  the  room  of  Lord  Sidmouth,  who  succeeded  Mr. 
Ryder  as  secretary  of  state  for  the  home  department ;  Lord  Bathurst, 
from  being  president  of  the  board  of  trade,  became  secretary  for  war 
and  colonies,  and  Sir  Robert,  then  Mr.  Peel,  secretary  for  Ireland : 
Lord  Eldon  continued  to  be  chancellor,  Lord  Westmoreland  to  be 
lord  privy  seal,  Lord  Mulgrave  to  be  master-general  of  the  ordnance, 
and  Lord  Castlereagh  to  be  secretary  for  foreign  affairs,  taking  also  the 
lead  of  the  government  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

This  was  the  composition  into  which,  after  all  the  struggles  both  of 
Whigs  and  neutrals  for  extensive  change,  the  cabinet  finally  settled 
down ;  and  in  this  state,  though  it  was  then  supposed  incapable  of 
weathering  even  the  current  session,  it  subsisted  till  the  death  of 
Lord  Liverpool,  fifteen  years  afterwards,  without  any  material  change 
of  policy  except  the  recognition  of  the  Roman  Catholic  question  as  an 
open  one,  and  without  any  important  additions  of  individual  strength, 
— except  the  return  of  Mr.  Canning  to  office  in  1816, — and  the  en- 
trance into  the  cabinet  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  as  master-general 
of  the  ordnance  in  1818,  and  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  as  secretary  for  the 
home  department  in  1822. 

Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  a  harsh  exponent  of  the  motives  of  his  poli- 
tical antagonists,  has  thus  questioned,  in  his  Diary,  the  good  faith  of 
the  prince  and  his  advisers,  particularly  the  lord  chancellor,  in  the 
arrangements  of  1812. 

"June  11. — The  whole  of  the  negotiations  for  a  new  ministry  have  been  conducted 
unquestionably,  with  a  previous  determination  on  the  part  of  the  prince  and  of  those 
•who  enjoy  his  confidence,  that  they  should  not  end  in  Lord  Grey  and  Lord  Grenville 
and  their  friends  being  in  power.  The  lord  chancellor  has  never,  from  the  moment 
of  the  address  of  the  House  of  Commons  being  carried,  shown  the  least  symptom  of 
apprehension  that  he  was  to  resign  his  office.  During  these  three  weeks  that  the 
ministers  have  been  represented  by  themselves  as  holding  their  offices  only  till  their 
successors  should  be  named,  he  has  given  judgment  in  none  of  the  numerous  causes, 
petitions  and  motions  which  have  been  long  waiting  his  decision  ;  though  there  never 
before  was  an  instance  of  a  chancellor  about  to  resign  the  great  seal,  who  did  not 
hasten  to  clear  away  all  the  arrears  of  his  court.  Instead  of  this,  Lord  Eldon  has  been 
every  day  closeted  with  the  Duke  of  Cumberland ;  and,  during  several  days  in  the 
term,  the  court  has  been  entirely  shut  up,  while  his  lordship  was  employed  in  some 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  385 

way  never  known  to  the  suitors  of  his  court,  or  to  the  public.  We  have  even  had  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  coming  down  to  Westminster  Hall,  and  sending  for  the  chan- 
cellor out  of  court.  The  whole  matter  has  ended  pretty  much  as  I  expected.  It  might 
have  been  much  worse,  if  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville  had  not  been  deterred  from  taking 
office  by  the  obstacles  which  were  purposely  thrown  in  their  way.  They  would  have 
been  suffered  to  remain  in  the  ministry  but  a  very  short  time ;  some  pretext  would 
have  been  anxiously  watched  for,  and  eagerly  seized,  to  turn  them  out  with  the  loss 
of  character;  or  a  new  cry  against  Popery  would  have  been  raised,  and  they  would 
probably  have  been  the  victims  of  it."* 

The  imputation  which  begins  the  foregoing  paragraph  seems 
wholly  gratuitous.  The  House  of  Commons  having  intimated  a 
wish  lor  the  reconstruction  of  the  ministry,  and  the  Whigs  being  the 
only  remaining  party  through  whose  aid  such  a  reconstruction  could 
be  effected,  the  prince  made  an  offer  to  their  leaders.  He  may  have 
had  little  hope,  nay,  little  wish,  that  the  offer  should  be  accepted; 
but  if  he  gave  them  a  fair  option  to  accept  or  decline  it,  neither  he 
nor  his  advisers  can  justly  be  charged  with  "a  previous  determina- 
tion that  the  negotiations  should  not  end  in  Lord  Grey  and  Lord 
Grenville  and  their  friends  being  in  power."  Those  negotiations, 
repeatedly  renewed  by  the  prince,  were  finally  broken  off  by  the 
Whig  leaders  themselves,  upon  the  question  of  the  household  ap- 
pointments. Let  it  be  assumed,  for  the  argument,  that  the  Lords 
Grey  and  Grenville  were  well  entitled  to  insist  upon  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  household,  still  there  is  nothing  in  the  prince's  conduct 
respecting  that  point  which  indicates  a  predetermination  to  strangle 
the  treaty.  However  fairly  and  naturally  the  Whig  noblemen  may 
be  deemed  to  have  acted  in  pressing  their  view  of  the  subject,  the 
prince  and  his  advisers  may  surely  claim  credit  for  having  as  fairly 
and  as  naturally  adhered  to  their  own.  Each  party  may  have  hon- 
estly considered  itself  in  the  right.  Lord  Moira  had  signified  to 
Lords  Grey  and  Grenville,  as  was  declared  on  the  llth  of  June  by 
Mr.  Stuart  Wortley,  the  mover  of  the  address  for  a  strong  adminis- 
tration, "  that  all  the  great  and  leading  questions  of  policy  would  be 
laid  at  their  feet,  to  be  managed  at  their  will."  Lord  Moira's  minute 
of  their  conversation  with  him  on  the  6th  June,  1812,  records,  that 
satisfactory  explanations  had  taken  place  respecting  such  measures 
as  appeared  to  be  of  the  greatest  urgency,  more  especially  the 
Roman  Catholic  and  the  American  questions:  that  "LordlVIoira  had 
received  this  commission  without  any  restriction  of  limitation  what- 
ever being  laid  by  the  prince  on  their  considering  any  points  which 
they  judged  useful  for  his  service:"  and  that  the  Lords  Grey  and 
Grenville  "  expressed  their  satisfaction  with  the  fairness  of  this  pro- 
posal, and  their  readiness  to  enter  into  such  discussion  as  must  pre- 
cede the  details  of  any  new  arrangement."  Then  came  their  demand 
for  the  reconstruction  of  the  household, — a  demand,  said  the  Whig 
nobleman,  which  arose  only  "from  the  necessity  of  giving  to  a  new 
government  that  character  of  efficiency  and  stability,  and  those  marks 
of  the  constitutional  support  of  the  crown,  which  were  required  to 
enable  it  to  act  usefully  for  the  public  service."  Lord  Moira,  in  the 

*  Memoirs  of  Romilly's  Life,  voL  iii.  pp.  42,  43. 
VOL.  i. — 25 


LIFE  OF  LORD 

same  conference,  informed  them,  "that  the  prince  had  laid  no  restric- 
tion upon  them  in  that  respect,  and  had  never  pointed,  in  the  most  dis- 
tant manner,  at  the  protection  of  those  officers  from  removal:  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  him,  Lord  Moira,  however,  to  concur  in 
making  the  exercise  of  this  power  positive  and  indispensable  in  the 
formation  of  an  administration,  because  he  should  deem  it,  on  public 
grounds,  peculiarly  objectionable."  A  decided  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  this  point,  says  Lord  Moira,  having  been  expressed  on  both 
sides,  "the  conversation  ended  here  with  mutual  declarations  of  re- 
gret."* 

In  such  a  state  of  facts,  it  seems  not  very  easy  to  conjecture  on  what 
grounds  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  can  have  thought  himself  warranted  to 
impute,  that  the  negotiation  had  "been  conducted  unquestionably 
with  a  previous  determination  on  the  part  of  the  prince  and  of  those 
who  enjoyed  his  confidence,  that  they  should  not  end  in  Lord  Grey  and 
Lord  Grenville  and  their  friends  being  in  power." 

Sir  Samuel  Rornilly's  imputation  is  still  further  rebutted,  by  ano- 
ther circumstance  which  must  have  come  to  his  knowlege  within  a 
few  hours  after  he  wrote  the  strictures  above  quoted,  though  it  has 
not  led  him  to  expunge  or  qualify  them.  On  the  llth  of  June,  the 
very  day  on  which  this  entry  in  his  Diary  is  dated,  Lord  Yarmouth, 
afterwards  Marquis  of  Hertford,  who  held  the  office  of  vice-chamber- 
lain, and  was  known  to  be  especially  in  the  confidence  of  the  prince 
regent,  acquainted  the  House  of  Commons  that  he,  and  the  officers  of 
the  household  in  general,  had  formed  and  declared  their  intention  to 
resign  their  situations  as  soon  as  it  should  be  settled  that  the  Lords 
Grey  and  Grenville  were  to  take  the  seals  of  office ;  the  wish  of  the 
household  officers  being,  as  they  had  expressly  stated  to  his  royal 
highness  and  in  various  other  quarters,  that  they  might  have  the  op- 
portunity of  retiring  voluntarily,  instead  of  being  turned  out  by  the 
new  administration.  Lord  Yarmouth  added,  that  he  had,  himself, 
communicated  this  intention  to  Mr.  Sheridan,  with  a  view  to  its 
reaching  the  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville.  Mr.  Sheridan,  it  appears, 
did  not  communicate  it,  as  he  had  been  expected  to  do ;  and  he  has 
been  severely  censured  for  that  omission  by  his  biographer,  Mr. 
Moore ;  but  the  fact  of  his  having  been  thus  apprized  of  the  intention 
by  the  most  confidential  of  the  prince's  friends,  and  for  the  very  pur- 
pose of  conveying  it  to  the  Whig  leaders,  is  a  tolerably  strong  pre- 
sumption, that,  at  all  events,  the  court  party  had  no  plot  for  making 
the  household  a  stumbling-block  in  the  negotiation ;  and  that,  as  far 
as  the  prince  regent  and  his  counsellors  were  concerned,  it  was  open 
to  the  Whig  leaders  to  take  quiet  possession  of  the  government. 

Little  time  was  suffered  to  elapse,  before  the  subject  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  claims  was  pressed  again  on  the  attention  of  the  House  of 
Lords,  in  a  motion  made  on  the  1st  of  July  by  the  Marquis  WTelles- 
ley,  for  taking  into  consideration,  early  in  the  then  next  session,  the 
state  of  the  laws  affecting  the  Roman  Catholics,  with  a  view  to  such 

*  23  Hans.  Parl.  Deb.,  App.  xli. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  387 

an  adjustment  as  might  "  be  conducive  to  the  peace  and  strength  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  to  the  stability  of  the  Protestant  establishment, 
and  to  the  general  satisfaction  and  concord  of  all  classes  of  his  majes- 
ty's subjects." 

The  lord  chancellor  was  among  the  peers  who  spoke  in  opposition 
to  this  resolution. 

He  declared  that  no  wish  was  nearer  to  his  heart  than  to  be  convinced  that  he  was 
wrong.  The  noble  marquis  (said  he)  has  justly  stated  that  there  can  be  no  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  the  desirable  nature  of  the  objects  which  the  resolution  professes  to 
accomplish.  Oh  that  they  could  be  accomplished !  Oh  that  your  lordships  could 
come  to  some  determination  on  them,  "  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  all  classes  of  his 
majesty's  subjects!" 

After  urging  a  variety  of  topics,  which,  referring  chiefly  to  temporary  circum- 
stances, have  now  lost  much  of  their  interest,  Lord  Eldon  proceeded  thus:  —  The 
noble  marquis  has  asked  us  to  show  him  the  danger.  But  are  we,  in  this  Protestant 
country,  to  be  put  to  show  the  danger  of  subverting  the  Protestant  establishment? — 
Everywhere  in  our  statute  books,  you  will  find  the  security  of  the  Protestant  religion 
provided  for,  not  merely  with  reference  to  religion;  not  because  we  quarrel  with  the 
religion  of  the  Catholics;  but  because  their  religious  opinions  operate  on  their  poli- 
tical principles  in  such  a  way  as  to  render  it  necessary  to  adopt  some  defence  against 
them.  It  has  been  said  that  the  regulations,  of  which  the  Catholics  now  complain, 
were  called  for  only  by  a  particular  and  temporary  occasion ;  but  the  ancestor  of  a 
noble  lord  emphatically  cautioned  his  countrymen,  that  if  they  permitted  their  reli- 
gious establishment  to  be  broken  in  upon,  the  effect  would  be  injurious  to  their  civil 
rights.  That  was  the  general  principle  upon  which  our  ancestors  proceeded.  It  is 
urged,  that  Catholics  regard  their  oaths.  I  am  not  denying  that  they  do  so ;  but  there 
is  no  oath  which  would  meet  the  case,  or  afford  an  adequate  security.  As  to  the  dis- 
tinction drawn  in  their  favour  between  spiritual  and  temporal  jurisdiction,  it  is  a 
distinction  in  itself  obscure,  and  liable  to  great  confusion;  and  one  thing  we  may 
depend  upon  in  looking  at  this  subject,  that  a  great  deal  of  that  which  we  should  call 
temporal,  they  would  call  spiritual  power.  The  authority  of  Blackstone,  which  is 
quoted  so  frequently  in  favour  of  unqualified  concession,  would,  if  quoted  impar- 
tially, go,  indeed,  to  a  modification  of  the  provisions  against  the  Roman  Catholics ; 
but,  so  long  as  they  acknowledged  a  foreign  sovereign,  on  spiritual  or  on  temporal 
matters,  it  would  go  no  further  than  to  a  modification.  We  have  proceeded,  from  month 
to  month,  and  from  day  to  day,  in  concessions,  consistent  with  the  spirit  of  our  con- 
stitution, and  guarded  by  that  cautious  poficy  which  ought  to  regulate  such  proceed- 
ings. If  the  present  motion  be  carried. — I  mean  not  merely  consideration,  but,  if 
concession  be  carried, — the  noble  marquis  and  I  may  shake  hands ;  but,  as  I  hope  for 
God's  mercy,  I  do  not  think  I  shall  be  living  under  the  same  constitution  as  hitherto. 
Feeling  the  weight  of  all  these  objections  strongly  pressing  on  my  mind,  it  is  my 
intention  to  conclude  with  a  motion,  upon  which  I  would  divide  the  House,  even  if  I 
•were  to  stand  alone.  The  noble  marquis  and  myself  agreed,  on  a  former  occasion, 
that,  under  the  circumstances  then  existing,  we  could  not  vote  for  concession  ;  and 
now,  under  similar  circumstances,  I  cannot  vote  for  the  noble  marquis's  motion.  I 
conclude  by  moving  the  previous  question. 

At  a  later  period  of  the  debate,  in  reference  to  some  strictures  of 
Lord  Holland, 

The  lord  chancellor  explained  his  reason  for  moving  the  previous  question,  rather 
than  voting  a  direct  negative,  to  be,  that  he  did  not  wish  at  once  and  for  ever  to  shut 
the  door  of  conciliation  against  the  Roman  Catholics,  though  he  was  anxious,  at  the 
same  time,  not  to  disguise  from  their  body  bis  own  objections,  on  constitutional 
grounds,  to  their  claims. 

Though  Lord  Eldon  had  resisted  the  crude  changes  proposed  in 
the  House  of  Commons  by  way  of  remedy  for  the  arrear  of  legal 
business,  yet  (as  he  had  proved  in  the  preceding  year  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  a"  committee  for  the  examination  of  the  subject),  he  was  by 
no  means  insensible  to  the  growing  magnitude  of  the  mischief,  espe- 


LIFE  OF  LORD 

cially  in  the  House  of  Lords,  where  the  appeals  had  accumulated  to 
a  point  which  made  it  indispensable  that  some  assistance  should  be 
supplied  for  the  disposal  of  them.  In  order,  therefore,  that  he  might 
be  enabled  to  bestow  a  greater  portion  of  his  time  upon  these  appeals, 
he  gave  his  best  support  to  a  bill,  founded  on  the  labours  of  the 
Lords'  committee  and  introduced  by  his  friend  Lord  Redesdale,  for 
constituting  a  vice-chancellor  who  might  relieve  the  holder  of  the 
great  seal  from  a  portion  of  the  business  of  the  Court  of  Chancery. 
On  the  13th  of  July,  when  Lord  Redesdale  moved  the  consideration 
of  the  report  of  this  bill, 

Lord  Eldon  expressed  his  conviction,  that  when  he  should  be  dead  and  gone,  the 
subjects  of  this  country  would  feel  the  salutary  and  satisfactory  operation  of  a  mea- 
sure which  tended  to  the  speedy  decision  of  their  appeals  to  that  House  and  of  their 
suits  in  the  Court  of  Chancery.  After  allusion  to  some  of  the  details  of  chancery 
practice  in  illustration  of  the  existing  necessity,  he  reminded  the  House  that  the 
visible  occupations  of  the  chancellor  were  not  the  only  matter  to  be  here  regarded. 
A  chancellor  must  give  his  days  and  his  nights  to  the  consideration  of  his  duiies. — 
He  must  pursue  them  even  in  the  retirement  of  his  house  and  in  the  privacy  of  his 
closet,  if  he  meant  to  do  justice.  And  it  was  to  be  recollected  that  a  conscientious 
attention  to  the  cases  of  those  capital  malefactors  whose  fate  was  to  be  decided  by 
the  crown  with  reference  to  a  merciful  administration  of  justice,  not  a  little  enhanced 
the  anxious  labours  of  his  office. 

The  report  was  agreed  to ;  but  the  year  was  now  too  far  advanced 
to  allow  the  passing  of  the  bill  in  that  session ;  and,  on  the  30th  of 
July,  the  Parliament  was  prorogued  by  commission,  in  a  speech  de- 
livered by  the  lord  chancellor  on  the  prince  regent's  behalf. 

The  gayest  event  of  the  summer  seems  to  have  been  that  which 
is  indicated  in  the  following  invitation : — 

(Queen  Charlotte  to  Lord  Eldon.') 

"  Windsor,  August  10th,  1812. 

"  What  will  the  lord  chancellor  say,  when  a  lady's  note  intrudes  itself  into  his 
learned  court?  and  yet  the  writer  of  it  can  assure  him,  that  the  case  proposed  will 
not  be  of  a  difficult  decision.  The  question  is  neither  more  nor  less,  than  whether 
he  will  lay  aside,  for  half  a  day,  the  more  serious  business  of  right  and  wrong,  for  a 
party  in  honour  of  the  prince  regent's  birthday,  at  Frogmore,  for  which  the  queen 
invites  him  on  Wednesday  the  12th  at  5  o'clock,  where  he  will  meet  all  the  members 
of  the  royal  family  that  can  be  assembled,  and  be,  if  not  learnedly  employed,  at  least 
legally  in  the  lawful  occupation  of  dining. 

"  CHARLOTTE." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire.") 

"Encombe,  Sept.  22J,  1812. 
"  My  dear  Swire, 

"  It  is  long,  certainly  very  long,  since  I  have  written  to  you  :  my  warmest  and  most 
affectionate  regards,  nevertheless,  have  ever  attended  you,  and  I  can  only  assure  you 
that  my  attention  has  been  utterly  distracted  by  the  events  of  a  year  which,  in  their 
extraordinary  nature,  so  far  as  they  respect  myself,  have  surpassed  all  the  extraor- 
dinary circumstances  which  even  my  checkered  life  has  produced.  I  had  no  doubt 
that  I  should  have  had  the  happiness  to  have  seen  Melsonby  this  season,  save  what 
depended  upon  the  fact  that  existence  itself  is  not  certain;  for  though,  this  place 
having  a  residence  and  Eldon  not  having  any,  this  must  have  been  my  residence, 
yet  I  had  determined  that  no  year  should  pass  without  my  seeing  Eldon,  at  least  as 
Jong  as  God  should  please  to  permit  us  both  to  live.  I  could  not  doubt  that  at  the 
close  of  the  regency  year,  the  18th  February,  I  should  have  had  my  dismissal:  so 
sure  was  I  of  that,  that  when  the  prince  sent  for  me  on  the  17th,  his  commands 
reached  me  sitting  for  my  picture  in  my  robes.  When  I  went  he  expressed  his  sur- 
prise that  I  appeared  in  a  morning  in  a  laced  shirt :  I  told  him  what  I  had  been  about : 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  389 

he  then  expressed  surprise  that  I  could  find  any  time  for  such  a  business  :  my  answer 
was  that  the  fact  proved  that  that  was  difficult;"  that  the  picture  had  been  asked  nearly 
two  years  for  the  Guildhall  at  Newcastle,  and  that  my  countrymen  wishing  it  should 
be  in  the  chancellor's  robes,  I  could  not  delay  beyond  that  day  in  which  I  might  for 
the  last  time  be  entitled  to  wear  them.  He  smiled,  and  next  day  satisfied  me  that  I 
needed  not  to  have  been  in  such  a  hurry.  This  was  curious  enough,  but  is  literally 
a  fact.  N.  B.  The  picture  is  said  to  be  an  extremely  good  one,  and,  as  it  is  engrav- 
ing, I'll  send  you  one  of  the  best  prints  of  it.  Well,  after  this,  poor  Perceval  was 
assassinated.  By  the  way,  I  had  a  pretty  narrow  escape.  It  is  said, 

'  Mors  sola  fatetur 
Quantula  sint  hominum  corpuscula;' 

but  I  have  learnt  facts  of  poor  Perceval's  life  which  I  never  should  have  learnt  but 
in  consequence  of  his  death,  and  which  prove  him  to  have  been  a  most  extraordinarily 
excellent  person.  Here  again,  however,  I  thought  I  should  sing, '  Nunc  dimittis.'  I 
appointed  and  attended  a  recorder's  report,  which  I  thought  it  unmanly  to  leave  to  a 
successor,  on  a  Monday,  as  I  was  morally  certain  that  I  should  not  be  chancellor  on 
the  usual  day,  the  Wednesday.  But  whether  Grenville  and  Grey  did  not  wish  to  be 
ministers,  or  whether  they  would  not  be  ministers  unless  they  could  bind  kings  in 
chains,  I  don't  know.  The  Tuesday  put  my  wig  and  gown  once  more  fast  upon  my 
head  and  back,  and  I  am  now  just  as  uncertain  when  I  shall  see  the  blessings  of 
final  retirement  as  I  was  before  the  king's  illness.  What  a  life  of  anxiety  (about 
myself  certainly  in  no  degree  such),  I  led  during  these  scenes,  must  be  reserved,  if 
it  is  to  be  described,  till  some  happy  hour  of  conversation  between  us  shall  be  vouch- 
safed me  by  Providence.  I  concluded  my  stay  in  town  by  the  prince  regent's  dining 
in  Bedford  Square  with  a  man  whom  he  had  hated  more  than  any  other  in  his  father's 
dominions,  according  to  his  unreserved  confession. 

"  As  to  the  proceedings  of  the  session,  it  is  to  me  abundantly  clear,  that  unless  the 
country  will  express  its  sentiments  on  the  Roman  Catholic  claims,  (if  it  has  any  sen- 
timents respecting  them,  which  I  doubt,)  and  that  tolerably  strongly,  between  Dissent- 
ers, Methodists  and  Papists,  the  church  is  gone.  I  fought  the  battle  again  this  win- 
ter, and  I  shall  fight  it  whilst  I  have  stumps  to  stand  upon ;  but  I  cannot  fight  it 
successfully  alone  with  a  country  sunk  in  apathy. 

"  And  now,  dear  Sam,  I  come  to  a  close.  Retained  in  office,  with  no  wish  to  remain 
in  it,  I  am  praying  for  some  fair  opportunity,  some  honourable  reason  for  quitting.  I 
grow  old;  business  increases;  my  ability  to  discharge  it  does  not  improve.  These, 
so  help  me  God,  are  the  reflections  which  have  occupied  my  anxious  thoughts  during 
the  last  winter,  and  yet,  in  this  malignant  world,  whilst  the  regent  knows  my  wishes 
perfectly,  I  am  supposed  to  be  clinging  to  office,  and  intriguing  for  others,  who  are 
anxious  for  it,  God  forgive  them  !  My  Bessy,  both  my  Bessys,  send  love  to  you  and 
your  Bessy,  and 

"  I  am  ever  affectionately  yours, 

"  ELDOS." 

The  annual  register  of  this  year  records  the  general  surprise  with 
which  the  country  received  the  proclamation  of  the  29th  of  September, 
for  the  dissolution  of  Parliament, — a  step  for  which  the  writer  observes 
that,  as  no  public  reason  had  been  given,  conjecture  was  left  to  ima- 
gine the  most  probable.  What  the  real  motives  were,  the  following 
letter  from  Lord  Liverpool  to  the  chancellor  distinctly  discloses :  — 

(Extract.) 

"Fife  House,  Sept.  l&h,  1812. 

"  My  dear  Lord, 

"'I  am  sorry  to  be  under  the  necessity  of  disturbing  you;  but  it  has  been  detei 
mined  that  Parliament  shall  be  dissolved.    Indeed,  considering  the  success  of  our 
military  operations,  the  abundance  of  the  harvest  in  every  part  of  the  United  King- 
dom, the  increasing  tranquillity  of  the  disturbed  districts  in  this  country,  and  ] 
profound  quiet  in  every  part  of  Ireland,  we  should  hardly  be  justified  in  not  availu 
ourselves  of  all  these  favourable  circumstances,  by  adjourning  the  diss 
some  future  period,  when,  from  causes  unavoidable,  such  a  measure  might  b 
only  inconvenient,  but  even  hazardous.    If  the  event  is  to  take  place,  it  is,  of  coi 
desirable  that  it  should  not,  at  this  season  of  the  year.be  delayed;  and  the  prince 


390  LIFE  OF  LORD 

proposes,  therefore,  to  hold  a  council  for  the  purpose,  on  Monday,  the  28th  instant,  or 
Tuesday  the  29th,  as  may  best  suit  your  convenience." 

The  succeeding  extract  is  from  a  letter  of  Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Scott,  which  was  probably  written  about  the  end  of  September, 
1812,  shortly  after  a  fire  at  Encombe,  by  which  a  wing  of  the  house 
was  burnt,  on  the  night  between  the  18th  and  19th  of  that  month. 

"  We  are  tranquillized  as  to  the  effects  of  our  accident  on  our  spirits.  It  will  detain 
me  here  some  few  days  longer  than  I  intended,  to  order  repairs,  &c.;  but  our  escape 
has  been  marvellous,  and  the  mischief  actually  done  is  in  no  sense  considerable.  If 
it  had  happened  an  hour  sooner, — or  if  we  had  not  had,  belonging  to  the  house,  a  fire 
engine, — or  if  the  fire  had  reached  some  wood  work  within  a  foot  of  the  place  to 
•which  it  reached,  and  which  it  would  infallibly  have  done,  if  I  had  not  had  the  pre- 
sence of  mind  to  direct  the  forcible  destruction  of  the  connection  between  the  house 
and  the  small  wing, — the  whole  house  must  have  been  utterly  destroyed." 

Toward  the  close  of  his  life,  when  his  niece,  Mrs.  Forster,  was  on 
a  visit  to  him  at  Encombe,  he  said  to  her: — "  We  had  a  fire  here 
once,  in  the  wing,  which  destroyed  two  bedrooms.  It  really  was  a 
very  pretty  sight;  for  all  the  maids  turned  out  of  their  beds,  and  they 
formed  a  line  from  the  water  to  the  fire-engine,  handing  their  buckets ; 
they  looked  very  pretty,  all  in  their  shifts.  My  first  care  was  the  great 
seal;  so  byway  of  securing  it  during  the  confusion,  I  buried  it.  The 
next  morning  when  I  came  to  reflect,  I  could  not  remember  the  spot 
where  I  had  put  it:  you  never  saw  anything  so  ridiculous,  as  seeing 
the  whole  family  down  that  walk,  probing  and  digging  till  we  found 
it." 

The  soreness  with  which  Lord  Eldon  felt  the  neglect  of  the  govern- 
ment in  leaving  him  undefended  upon  the  question  of  his  judicial 
arrear,  will  be  perceived  from  the  following  extracts  of  a  letter  to  Sir 
W.  Scott,  written  during  the  general  election. 

(Lord Eldon  to  Sir  W.  Scott.)— (Extract.) 

(Post-mark,  Oct.  9th,  1812.)    "Friday. 
"Dear  Brother, 

"I  return  you  the  enclosed  according  to  your  request,  which  I  received  last  night, 
as  I  was  writhing  up  stairs  in  the  gout,  about  seven  o'clock,  to  bed.  Really,  as  to  the 
government,  I  don't  care  one  farthing  about  it.  I  am  mistaken,  if  they  do  not  mainly 
owe  their  existence,  as  such,  to  me ;  and  yet  I  have  been,  in  my  judicial  capacity,  the 
object  of  the  House  of  Commons'  persecution  for  two  years,  without  a  lawyer  there 
to  say  a  word  of  truth  for  me;  and  though  I  have  pressed,  for  years  past,  the  import- 
ance of  being  supported  there  by  some  individuals  in  my  own  department  of  the 
profession,  not  the  slightest  notice  of  this  has  been  taken  in  their  arrangements;  I 
have  been  left  unprotected  as  before, — and  so  unprotected  I  cannot  and  will  not 
remain. 

"The  prince  vows  annihilation  to  the  government  if  I  go ;  and  I  suppose  would 
resort  to  Canning  and  Wellesley.  But  I  cannot  feel  the  obligation  I  am  under  of 
being  hunted  in  the  House  of  Commons  without  more  of  protection  than  I  have  had 
— of  bearing  that  the  business  of  the  Court  of  Chancery  should  be  tumbled  out  at 
the  end  of  the  session,  as  it  was,  without  communication  with  me.  I  am  concluding 
a  vacation  of  uneasiness  by  struggling  with  pain. 

"  Yours, 

"  ELDON." 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  391 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

1812,  1813. 

New  parliament. — Address  respecting  disputes  with  United  States:  Lord  Eldon's 
speech. — Attempt  of  Princess  of  Wales  to  open  correspondence  with  prince  regent. 
— Letter  of  Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott. — Action  against  Sir  William  Scott  by 
Beaurain:  advice  of  Lord  Ellenborough  and  of  Lord  Eldon  against  payment  of 
money  to  avert  attacks  on  character. — Trial  of  Lord  Sligo's  case  before  Sir  William 
Scott:  marriage  of  Sir  William  Scott  with  dowager  Lady  Sligo:  its  circumstances: 
anecdote. — Vice  chancellor's  bill  debated  and  passed :  appointment  of  Sir  T. 
Plumer:  strictures  of  Sir  S.  Romilly  and  claims  of  Mr.  Richards. — Letter  from  Lord 
Eldon  on  the  education  of  his  grandson. — Partial  Relief  Bill  to  Roman  Catholics. — 
Letter  of  Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire. 

THE  first  session  of  the  new  parliament,  which  contained  a  large  ma- 
jority of  members  generally  favourable  to  the  views  of  the  administra- 
tion, was  opened  on  the  30th  of  November  with  a  speech  from  the 
prince  regent  in  person. — An  address  was  moved  on  the  18th  of 
February  by  Lord  Bathurst,  engaging  the  House  of  Lords  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  crown,  in  the  war  declared  against  England  by  the  United 
States.  In  the  course  of  his  speech, 

Lord  Bathurst  exposed  the  claim  which  the  Americans  had  set  up,  that  any  subject 
of  any  state  who  should  possess  himself  of  letters  of  naturalization  or  a  certificate  of 
citizenship  from  the  American  authorities,  should  be  exempt  from  the  reclamation 
of  the  country  to  which  he  owed  his  natural  allegiance.  This  was,  in  truth,  to  claim 
the  power  of  cancelling  the  allegiance  of  the  subjects  of  other  states;  and  on  this 
principle  the  Americans  had  required,  as  a  preliminary  to  any  negotiation,  that  Great 
Britain  should  suspend  her  right  of  impressing  British  seamen  found  on  board 
American  vessels. 

The  chancellor  said,  that  the  right  of  the  British  nation,  the  surrender  of  which,  at 
least  for  a  time,  had  been  made  the  sine  qua  non  of  negotiation  by  the  American  go- 
vernment, was  necessary  to  the  very  existence  of  this  country,  and  especially  at  that 
moment.  If  the  claim  of  naturalization  by  a  residence  of  five  years  were  allowed  to 
America,  why  not  to  all  other  countries  1  If  a  residence  of  five  years  established  the 
right,  why  should  not  a  residence  of  one  month  1  It  would  thus  be  easy,  by  the  offer 
of  impunity  and  by  the  temptation  of  greater  pay,  to  seduce  our  seamen  into  the  ser- 
vice of  foreign  states.  Unless  America  should  think  proper  to  alter  her  tone,  he  did 
not  see  how  the  national  differences  could  be  settled  :  surely  never,  if  the  condition 
of  conciliation  was  to  be  the  concession  of  that  claim  which  was  the  life  of  our  navy, 
and,  through  that,  the  life  and  protection  of  the  country.  As  an  adviser  of  the  crown, 
he  would  never  consent  to  an  armistice  on  the  condition  of  appearing  to  hesitate 
about  a  right  so  vitally  affecting  the  nation  that  her  ruin  might  ensue  in  a  month  from 
its  concession. 

As  the  Princess  Charlotte  advanced  toward  riper  years,  it  was 
thought  fit  by  the  prince  regent  to  impose  additional  restrictions  on 
her  intercourse  with  her  mother,  the  Princess  of  Wales :  who,  galled 
by  this  limitation,  and  by  a  sense  of  former  ill-usage,  attempted  a  re- 
monstrance in  a  letter  to  the  prince  regent.  Her  letter,  according  to 


392  LIFE  OF  LORD 

a  statement  made  by  Mr.  Whitbread,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on 
the  5th  of  March,  was  thrice  returned  unopened.  This,  however, 
appears  to  have  been  the  result,  not  of  any  design  to  exclude  her  from 
a  hearing,  but  merely  of  the  prince's  unmitigated  repugnance  to  any 
thing  like  personal  correspondence  with  her.  The  following  letter, 
addressed  to  her  royal  highness  by  Lord  Liverpool,  on  his  own  and 
the  chancellor's  behalf,  sets  this  matter  in  a  clear  light : — 

"Lord  Liverpool  begs  leave  to  inform  her  royal  highness,  the  Princess  of  Wales, 
that  he  communicated  to  the  lord  chancellor,  according  to  her  royal  highness's  desire, 
the  letter  which  he  received  from  the  princess  on  Sunday  night.  He  has  likewise 
thought  it  his  duty  to  lay  that  letter  before  his  royal  highness  the  prince  regent. 

"The  lord  chancellor  and  Lord  Liverpool  have  never  declined  to  be  the  channel  of 
any  communications  which  the  Princess  of  Wales  might  be  pleased  to  inform  them 
that  her  royal  highness  was  desirous  of  making  to  the  prince  regent  through  his  con- 
fidential servants;  and  they  would  have  been  ready  to  have  submitted  to  his  royal 
highness  any  points  in  the  copy  of  the  letter  transmitted  by  the  princess  to  Lord 
Liverpool,  which  it  might  have  been  their  duty  to  have  brought  under  his  royal  high- 
ness's  consideration,  if  the  princess  had  signified  to  them  her  intention  that  the  com- 
munication to  his  royal  highness  should  have  been  made  in  this  manner.  But  it 
must  be  for  the  prince  regent  himself  to  determine,  whether  he  will  receive,  in  the 
manner  proposed,  any  direct  communication  by  letter  from  the  Princess  of  Wales,  or 
enter  into  any  correspondence  with  her  royal  highness. 

"  The  prince  regent  has  commanded  Lord  Liverpool  to  state,  that  he  adheres  to  the 
resolution  which  he  has  already  expressed  in  this  respect,  and  he  has  directed  Lord 
Liverpool,  therefore,  to  return  her  royal  highness's  letter. 

"Fife  House,  Jan.  19th,  1S13." 

The  affair  was  taken  up  as  a  party  matter  by  the  opponents  of  the 
government,  and  stirred  among  the  livery  of  London  and  other  popu- 
lar bodies ;  but  the  interest  excited  by  it  gradually  died  away,  and 
the  differences  of  the  royal  personages  were  for  a  time  forgotten  by 
the  public.  Meanwhile  the  manly  conduct  of  Lord  Eldon,  in  refusing 
all  compliances  which  he  thought  inconsistent  with  his  duty,  appeared 
to  be  endangering  him  with  the  regent.  The  following  letter,  which 
appears  to  have  been  written  about  this  time,  exhibits,  in  a  strong 
point  of  view,  the  annoyances  and  perplexities  of  that  season : — 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.— (Extract.) 

(Not  dated  :  probably  1813.) 
"  Dear  Brother, 

"  It  is  absolutely  impossible,  and  I  am  very  sorry  for  it,  that  I  can  avail  myself  of 
this  occasion  to  do  what  you  wish.  Some  one  of  my  own  secretaries  must  have  the 
cursitorship — they  have  a  right  to  it — the  commissionerships  are  pledged  ten  deep, 
and  as  to  the  private  secretaryship,  that  I  must  dispose  of  without  reference  to  any 
body  but  myself,  if  I  am  to  continue  chancellor.  I  doubt  whether  I  am :  the  prince 
having  applied  for  all  and  I  having  refused  him  all.  As  to  the  private  secretaryship, 
it  distresses  me  so  much  that  it  is  vacant,  that  I  sincerely  wish  to  put  an  end  to  my 
own  office.  Excuse  the  haste  which  I  write  with  from  the  bench,  and  excuse  any 
thing  improper,  for  I  mean  nothing  to  be  so;  but  my  soul  is  heavy. 

"  I  am  too  low,  and  too  ill,  to  mix  with  the  world,  and  I  therefore  absented  myself 
yesterday  and  shall  do  so  to-day. 

"  The  P.  has  been  treating  me  with  so  much  unkindness,  because  I  won't  do  as  to  his 
•wife  and  daughter  as  he  wishes — in  a  way, — that  one  more  such  interview  as  I  have 
had,  if  it  occurs,  will  save  me  the  trouble  of  appointing  to  the  secretaryship,  or  any 
thing  else,  where  the  officer  goes  out  of  oifice  with  the  chancellor. 

"  Yours, 

"  ELD  ON." 

When  the  one  irritating  subject  was  absent  from  the  regent's  mind, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  393 

his  behaviour  to  the  chancellor  was  thoroughly  cordial ;  and  he  would 
then  address  him  in  such  notes  as  that  which  next  follows : — • 

"  C.  H.  $  pt.  7  p.  M.  Feb.  lOih,  1813. 
"  My  dear  friend, 

"  Pray  give  me  a  call  in  your  way  home,  when  your  cabinet  breaks  up,  as  an  idea 
has  struck  me  which  I  wish  to  talk  over  with  you  for  five  minutes,  in  order  that  you 
may  turn  it  over  in  your  mind  before  to-morrow  morning.  Just  send  me  a  line,  to 
mention  about  what  hour  I  may  be  likely  to  see  you,  in  order  that  I  may  be  in  the  way 
and  not  keep  you  waiting.  Ever  sincerely  yours, 

"  GEORGE  P.  R." 

A  cause  was  tried  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  on  Saturday,  the 
6th  of  March,  in  which  an  attorney,  named  Beaurain,  was  the  plaintiff, 
and  Sir  William  Scott  the  defendant.  The  object  of  the  action  was 
to  recover  damages  against  Sir  William,  for  having,  as  judge  of  the 
consistorial  court  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  excommunicated  Mr. 
Beaurain  for  causes  which  the  latter  alleged  to  be  insufficient.  The 
excommunication  had  been  sustained  by  Sir  John  Nicholl,  on  appeal 
to  the  Court  of  Arches ;  and  the  plaintiff's  counsel  in  this  action,  Mr. 
James  Allan  Park,  disclaimed  all  imputation  of  malicious  motive  ; 
but  Sir  William  Scott  had  given  the  plaintiff  150/.,  and  this  was  now 
contended  to  be  proof  that  Sir  William  was  conscious  of  having  acted 
illegally.  Solicitor-General  Sir  William  Garrow,  who  conducted  the 
defence,  declared  that  the  action  had  been  a  source  of  great  pain  to 
his  client,  a  distinguished  judge,  now  at  an  advanced  period  of  a 
blameless  life,  assailed  for  a  sentence,  which  he  was  bound  to  pass, 
and  which  neither  he  nor  Sir  John  Nicholl  ever  passed  without  an 
anxious  wish  to  be  saved  from  such  a  necessity.  The  money  had 
been  given  from  no  consciousness  of  misconduct,  but  from  pure 
benevolence  to  a  man  who  was  represented  to  Sir  William  as  having 
been  ruined  by  the  effect  of  the  sentence ;  but  the  only  fruit  of  the 
defendant's  kindness  had  been  a  series  of  attempts  at  extortion.  A 
gentleman  named  Espinasse,  being  examined  as  a  witness  for  the 
defence,  said,  that  he  had  seen  the  plaintiff  in  prison,  who  complained 
of  his  miserable  condition,  ascribed  it  to  his  excommunication,  and 
spoke  of  bringing  an  action.  The  witness  told  him  that  notice  should 
first  be  given  to  Sir  W.  Scott;  and  on  the  plaintiff's  assenting  to  this, 
Mr.  Espinasse  himself  called  on  Sir  William,  explained  the  man's 
wretched  situation,  and  represented  him  as  a  fit  object  of  pity.  Sir 
William  said  the  judgment  was  the  proper  one ;  but  authorized  Mr. 
Espinasse  to  communicate  with  the  plaintiff,  and  promised  to  adopt 
whatever  arrangement  they  might  make ;  Mr.  Espinasse  procured  for 
the  plaintiff  150/.  from  Sir  William,  who  said  he  hoped  it  would  put 
an  end  to  all  applications  from  the  man,  and  added  that  he  would  try 
to  get  him  some  small  place  about  the  customs  or  in  Somerset  House. 
The  plaintiff  expressed  himself,  by  letter,  most  grateful  to  Sir  William, 
but  afterwards  demanded  the  great  office  of  marshal  of  the  admiralty; 
and  when  Mr.  Espinasse  scouted  that  pretension,  observed,  that  he 
knew  of  a  place  that  could  be  had  for  2000/.,  and  that  he  expected 
Sir  William  would  buy  it  for  him.  Upon  this  Mr.  Espinasse  indig- 
nantly broke  off  all  communication  with  the  plaintiff,  and  Sir  William 


394  LIFE  OF  LORD 

Scott  being  resolved  to  resist  all  further  demands  on  his  purse,  this 
action  was  brought. 

Lord  Ellenborough,  the  lord  chief  justice,  who  tried  the  cause,  told  the  jury  that  he 
did  not  agree  with  the  counsel  on  either  side  as  to  the  motive  of  the  gift.  He  did  not 
think  the  money  had  been  given  either  from  a  consciousness  of  wrong  or  from  a  mere 
impulse  of  charity.  No:  it  was  an  infirmity,  in  a  great  man,  who  was  reluctant  to 
have  his  character  and  conduct  questioned  and  his  name  bandied  about  in  the  public 
papers;  and  who,  being  aware  how  obnoxious  was  the  mode  of  proceeding  by  way 
of  excommunication,  (unfortunately  the  only  mode  of  enforcing  the  sentences  of  the 
ecclesiastical  court,)  apprehended  that  if,  by  relieving  a  distressed  sufferer,  he  could 
put  the  complaint  at  rest,  that  would  be  a  fair  way  to  get  rid  of  it.  This  action  was  a 
lesson  for  all  men  to  stand  boldly  forward — to  stand  on  their  characters — and  not,  by 
compromising  a  present  difficulty,  to  accumulate  imputations  on  their  honour.  He 
explained  to  the  jury  the  law  of  the  case,  and  told  them  there  appeared  no  ground  to 
impugn  the  sentence  passed  by  the  defendant. 

The  jury,  after  half  an  hour's  deliberation,  gave  a  verdict  for  the 
plaintiff;  damages,  40s. ;  the  foreman  at  the  same  time  reading  from 
a  paper  the  following  words  : — "  The  jury  beg  leave  to  assure  the  lord 
chief  justice  that  by  this  their  verdict  they  do  not  mean  to  attach  the 
slightest  impeachment  on  the  most  respectable  character  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam Scott." 

Advice,  in  the  same  spirit  as  that  of  Lord  Ellenborough,  was  given 
by  Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott,  when  consulted  by  him  upon  the 
best  means  of  stopping  certain  libellous  publications  with  which  Sir 
William  and  his  family  were  threatened. 

(Lard  Eldon  to  Sir  'William  Scotl.}— (Extract.) 

"There  is  no  jurisdiction  in  this  country  that  can  prevent  the  publication  of  this 
paper  by  restraint  or  injunction,  if  he  choose  to  publish  it,  nor  in  any  other  mode,  if 
it  was  ever  so  clear  that  the  law  could  punish  the  publication.  It  follows,  of  course, 
therefore,  as  it  seems  to  me,  that  there  is  no  way  of  preventing  publication  but  by 
inducing  the  forbearance  of  it  by  money.  So  to  prevent  it,  or  rather  to  attempt  to 
prevent  it,  is  certainly  what  I  cannot  and  I  think  no  man  can  advise.  If  the  person 
who  receives  the  money  abides,  in  a  sense,  by  the  bargain,  and  does  not  publish  the 
identical  paper  he  is  bribed  not  to  publish,  (and  the  odds  are  that  a  scoundrel  would 
publish  it,)  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  obtaining  of  money  will  be  an  object 
continually  pursued — publication  after  publication  will  be  threatened,  that  it  may  be 
bought  off — and  if,  at  last,  publication  is  defied  and  made,  the  fact  that  money  had 
before  been  given  will  come  out,  and  what  nobody  would  have  believed  a  word  of 
before,  will  be  believed  by  many,  because  money  had  been  given. 

"Did  you  ever  see  a  book  called  *  *  *  *,  in  which  there  is,  I  understand,  an  infa- 
mous false  publication  about  me1?  Prior  to  that  publication  an  effort  was  made  to 
induce  me  to  find  or  furnish  the  means  of  preventing  that  publication;  I  had  no  fancy 
that  the  publication  should  be  made, — far  from  it;  but  I  could  not  disguise  from  my- 
self that  I  could  only  prevent  the  publication  by  money,  and  that  so  preventing  it 
would  lead  to  consequences  which  no  money  would  be  sufficient  to  buy  off.  I  there- 
fore sent  my  answer,  viz.,  that  I  never  had  promoted  any  publication  in  favour  of 
myself,  and  that  I  never  would;  and  that  I  never  had  prevented  and  never  would 
prevent  any  publication  against  myself;  if  the  law,  after  publication,  would  not  pun- 
ish the  thing,  it  might  take  its  course.  It  was  published — to  say  that  I  liked  that  it 
should  be  published  would  not  be  true — but  what  would  have  been  the  consequence 
if  I  had  bought  it  off! 

"  In  libel  and  caricature,  how  infamously  have  I  and  some  of  my  family  been  treated ! 
But  there  is  only  one  Avay  of  avoiding  this,  and  that  no  fortune  can  stand,  even  if  the 
application  of  a  fortune  could  successfully  be  used  to  ward  off  the  attacks  of  these 
villains,  or  reputation  be  effectually  preserved  by  the  adoption  of  such  means  to  pre- 
serve it. 

"If  so  much  of  the  paper  as  relates  to  you  related  to  me  I  should  give  myself  not  a 
minute's  uneasiness  about  it.  What  is  slated  is  false,  grossly  false,  and  nobody  would 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  395 

believe  it,  even  if  it  could  not  be,  as  it  may  be,  most  satisfactorily  contradicted,  if 
there  could  be  any  necessity  for  that." 

In  another  letter  to  his  brother,  having  no  date  of  year  or  month, 
he  writes  thus : — 

"I  can  only  say  for  myself,  pelted,  abused  and  calumniated  as  I  have  been, both  on 
account  of  my  public  and  private  life,  or  rather  of  what  has  been  falsely  supposed 
about  them — on  account  of  both  most  unjustly  and  wickedly — in  publications — those 
publications,  too,  producing  almost  every  day,  private  letters  of  abuse,  and  threats 
against  character  and  against  life  itself, — I  have  long  been  of  opinion,  and  upon  that 
I  have  acted,  that  the  best  thing  to  be  done  is  to  take  no  manner  of  notice  of  such 
things, — to  let  them  work  their  worst;  and  incases  in  which  lam  conscious  that 
what  is  imputed  respecting  me  is  falsely  imputed,  to  leave  the  imputation  to  do  its 
worst,  and  to  draw  the  venom  and  the  poison  out  of  such  publications  by  applying  to 
the  wound  inflicted  the  medicine  which  consciousness  and  the  good  opinion  of  those 
whose  good  opinion  alone  is  worth  having  will  supply.  Contradiction  from  myself, 
and  contradiction  from  those  whose  friendly  zeal  leads  them  unasked,  and  with  the 
kindest  intentions,  to  contradict  such  calumnies,  only  makes  matters  worse,  by  pro- 
ducing re-assertion  more  virulent  and  more  inflamed.  My  rule,  therefore,  is  to  let 
these  wretches  and  scoundrels  do  their  worst,  and  I  should  not  trouble  myself  one 
moment,  if  there  was  to  be  this  self-same  publication  about  me,  as  false." 

The  discomfort  which  Sir  William  had  experienced  in  March,  1813, 
from  the  action  of  Mr.  Beaurain  was  banished  in  a  few  weeks  after- 
wards by  no  less  interesting  an  event  than  his  own  second  marriage. 
The  circumstances  which  led  to  this  occurrence  were  not  such  as 
usually  terminate  in  matrimony.  The  Marquis  of  Sligo,  then  a  very 
young  man,  had  been  tried  before  Sir  William  Scott  at  the  admiralty 
session  in  December,  1812,  for  enticing  the  king's  seamen  to  desert, 
which  he  had  done  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  the  best  hands  to 
man  a  private  vessel  of  his  own.  His  mother,  Louisa  Catherine, 
widow  of  the  preceding  marquis,  had  watched  the  legal  proceedings 
with  the  utmost  solicitude.  This  had  led  to  some  communications 
between  her  ladyship  and  Sir  W.  Scott,  in  the  course  of  which  she 
is  said  to  have  intimated  to  him,  that  the  paternal  tone  and  manner  of 
his  admonition  to  the  young  offender  from  the  bench  had  suggested  to 
her  the  reflection  how  happy  it  would  be  for  her  son  if  such  counsel 
and  guardianship  could  be  continued  to  him  through  the  rest  of  his 
youth.  "Upon  this  hint,"  Sir  William  " spake  ;"  and  the  10th  of 
April,  1813,  saw  him  wedded  to  the  dowager.  As  he  was  then  in  his 
68th  year,  his  acquaintance  would  sometimes  make  themselves  merry 
on  the  subject  of  this  match :  the  more,  because  it  was  suspected  that 
the  lady  was  inclined  to  preserve,  in  her  wedlock,  a  good  deal  of  the 
independence  of  her  widowhood.  On  the  door  of  their  house  in 
Grafton  Street,  which  had  been  her  abode  before  the  marriage,  was  a 
brass  plate  bearing  her  name,  and  beneath  it  Sir  William  placed  ano- 
ther bearing  his  own.  "  Why,  Sir  William !"  said  Mr.  Jekyll,  who 
had  left  his  cards  of  congratulation  on  the  wedding,  "  I  am  sorry  to 
see  you  knock  under."  Sir  William  made  no  answer  at  that  time, 
but  transposed  the  plates.  "  Now,  Jekyll,"  said  he,  when  next  they 
met,  "you  see  I  no  longer  knock  under."  "  No,  Sir  William,"  said 
the  unrelenting  wit,  "  you  knock  up  now." 

On  the  1st  of  December,  1812,  Lord  Redesdale  had  introduced  into 


396  LIFE  OF  LORD 

the  House  of  Lords  the  bill  for  the  appointment  of  a  vice-chancellor. 
On  the  7th,  when  it  was  about  to  be  committed, 

Lord  Redesdale  said  that  the  arrear  of  appeals  and  writs  of  error  in  the  House  of 
Lords  then  amounted  to  more  than  376  cases,  which,  according  to  the  past  rate  of 
dispatch,  would  require  from  twelve  to  thirteen  years  for  the  disposal  of  them — to 
say  nothing  of  the  new  arrear  which  would  accumulate  in  that  interval.  For  the 
alleviation  of  these  evils,  it  was  proposed  by  this  bill,  that  a  vice-chancellor  should 
be  appointed  who  should  attend  to  the  business  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  while  the 
lord  chancellor  should  sit  three  days  a  week,  from  ten.  to  four,  for  the  determination, 
of  the  cases  pending  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

"  Lord  Holland  said,  he  had  very  serious  objections  against  the  bill.  He  begged  to 
be  plainly  understood,  that  he  meant  them  not  to  apply  to  the  then  lord  chancellor,  of 
whom  no  one  could  entertain  a  higher  opinion.  He  wished,  too,  that  the  salary  of  the 
lord  chancellor's  office  should  continue  commensurate  with  its  importance  and  utili- 
ty ;  though  he  would  rather  see  it  made  up  from  some  other  source  than  from  the 
business  of  bankruptcy.  But  he  more  especially  disapproved  the  new  division  of  the 
office;  the  danger  was,  that,  in  future  times,  the  vice-chancellor  would  be  the  only 
arbiter  of  the  law,  and  the  lord  chancellor  become  a  mere  politician. 

Lord  Redesdale  replied,  that  as  every  lord  chancellor  would  continually  be  occupied 
with  the  decision  of  the  most  important  and  intricate  questions  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
a  minister  would  hardly  venture  to  place  the  great  seal  in  the  hands  of  any  one  not 
fitted  for  its  functions  by  great  legal  learning.  The  separation  of  the  bankruptcy 
business  would  not  be  expedient;  for  in  that  department  there  arose  more  cases  of 
consequence  to  the  commerce  of  the  country  than  in  all  the  courts  below  put  together. 
The  salary  of  the  vice-chancellor  might  properly  be  paid  from  the  suitors'  fund. 

The  bill  went  through  the  House  of  Lords,  and  on  the  llth  of  Fe- 
bruary, 1813,  arrived  at  its  second  reading  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
where  it  was  warmly  debated :  its  opponents  being  chiefly  of  that 
party  who  were  wont  to  complain  the  loudest  of  the  evil  to  be  reme- 
died by  it.  Some  of  them  recommended,  as  an  alternative,  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  bankruptcy  business,  and  some  the  separation  of  the 
speakership  of  the  House  of  Lords.  The  only  member  who  then 
propounded  any  other  practical  remedy,  in  substitution  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  vice-chancellor,  was  Mr.  William  Courtenay,  now 
Earl  of  Devon.  He  suggested  that  a  great  permanent  cause  of  arrear 
would  be  cut  off,  if  the  Scotch  appeals  were  limited,  like  the  English 
ones,  to  questions  of  law,  four-fifths  of  the  whole  arrear  of  the  House 
of  Lords  consisting  of  Scotch  appeals  upon  questions  of  fact. 

On  the  15th,  the  bill  being  about  to  go  into  committee,  another 
debate  arose,  when 

Mr.  Leach  argued  that  the  spare  time  of  the  master  of  the  rolls,  as  his  office  was 
then  constituted,  would  be  quite  sufficient  to  dispose  of  the  arrear  in  chancery,  if  he 
were  withdrawn  from  the  attendance  on  the  judicial  business  of  the  privy  council, 
which  did  not  properly  constitute  any  part  of  his  duty. 

The  bill  was  again  debated  on  the  22d  of  February,  when  Sir 
Samuel  Romilly  mentioned,  as  a  resource  of  which  government  had 
taken  no  notice,  the  appointment  of  some  other  law  lord  than  the 
chancellor  to  preside  on  the  hearing  of  appeals  in  the  Upper  House. 
That  suggestion,  however,  induced  no  change  in  the  bill. 

A  new  discussion  took  place  on  the  llth  of  March,  when  Mr. 
Taylor  proposed,  as  a  substitute  for  this  measure,  the  removal  of  the 
bankruptcy  jurisdiction  from  the  great  seal.  His  motion  was  very 
unsuccessful,  being  opposed  not  only  by  the  government,  but  by  Mr. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  397 

Leach  and  Sir  S.  Romilly :  and  the  vice-chancellor's  bill  was  then 
read  a  third  time  and  passed.  It  is  the  53d  of  Geo.  3.  c.  24. 

The  first  appointment  under  it  was  conferred  on  Sir  Thomas  Plumer, 
the  then  attorney-general,  who  was  invested  with  the  office  in  the  fol- 
lowing April.  Sir  S.  Romilly  speaks  with  no  small  asperity  of  the 
promotion  itself,  and  of  the  motives  to  which  he  ascribes  it : — 

M  A  worse  appointment,"  says  he,  "  than  that  of  Plumer  to  be  vice-chancellor  could 
hardly  have  been  made.  He  knows  nothing  of  the  law  of  real  property,  nothing  of 
the  law  of  bankruptcy,  and  nothing  of  the  doctrines  peculiar  to  courts  of  equity.  His 
appointment  to  this  office  is  the  more  extraordinary,  as  the  chancellor  is  fully  aware 
of  his  incapacity  to  discharge  the  duties  of  it;  and  as  Richards,  who  is  certainly  the 
best  qualified  for  it  of  any  one  now  in  the  profession,  and  whose  politics  could  raise 
no  objection  to  his  promotion,  has  been  always  considered  as  the  chancellor's  most 
intimate  private  friend.  The  regent  certainly  cannot  have  made  it  a  point  to  have 
Plumer  promoted,  since  he  is  one  of  the  avowed  authors  of  the  Princess  of  Wales's 
defence,  which  abounds  with  the  most  injurious  insinuations  against  the  prince.  The 
only  explanation  of  all  this  is,  that,  with  the  rest  of  the  ministry,  Plumer  has  a  very 
strong  interest;  that  they  have  earnestly  pressed  his  appointment,  and  have  repre- 
sented that  it  would  be  a  great  slight  upon  him  if  he  were  to  be  passed  by;  and  that 
the  chancellor  has  not  on  this,  as  he  never  has  on  any  former  occasion,  suffered  his 
sense  of  duty  towards  the  public,  or  his  private  friendship,  to  prevail  over  his  party 
politics."* 

Now,  unless  where  some  overruling  consideration  of  public  advan- 
tage or  disadvantage  interposes,  it  is  usual,  in  arranging  promotions  to 
the  bench,  to  give  a  preference  to  the  law  officers  for  the  time  being: 
and  as  to  the  higher  appointments,  the  chancellor's  voice,  though 
to  a  certain  extent  influential,  is  by  no  means  absolute.  Nor  is  it 
probable  that  the  qualifications  of  Sir  T.  Plumer,  for  dealing  with 
those  branches  of  law  which  as  vice-chancellor  he  would  have  to 
administer,  were  regarded  by  Lord  Eldon  in  the  same  unfavourable 
light  as  by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly.  In  point  of  fact,  the  attorney-general 
turned  out  to  be,  if  not  a  great  judge,  yet  certainly,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  legal  profession,  a  competent  one.  It  is  true,  however,  that  Lord 
Eldon  did  not  exert  his  influence  so  resolutely  as  under  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  he  ought  to  have  exerted  it,  for  securing  a 
still  better  selection.  He  allowed  himself  to  be,  in  some  measure, 
swayed  by  a  compassionate  consideration  for  Sir  T.  Plumer's  state  of 
health ;  and  he  afterwards  took  no  small  blame  to  himself  in  the  mat- 
ter, as  appears  from  the  testimony  of  a  venerable  and  excellent  mem- 
ber of  the  bar,  Mr.  Wyatt,  now  the  oldest  practitioner  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery,  who  has  furnished  the  following  memorandum,  with 
permission  to  publish  it  here : — 

"After  Sir  Thomas  Plumer  was  appointed  vice-chancellor,  I  went 
to  a  consultation  with  Mr.  Richards  (with  whom  I  was  well  acquaint- 
ed) at  his  chambers  in  Lincoln's  Inn.  There  were  other  counsel  com- 
ing ;  I  was  there  first.  I  said  to  Mr.  Richards,  '  Instead  of  coming 
to  consultation,  I  thought  I  should  have  come  to  argue  before  you  as 
vice-chancellor.'  He  replied,  '  I  thought  so  too,  Wyatt,  as  I  had 
much  conversation  with  the  chancellor  about  Plumer;  we  both  agreed 
that  he  was  very  unfit :  and  I  certainly  thought  from  the  manner  and 
language  of  the  chancellor,  that  I  was  to  be  appointed.  Upon  my 

*  Memoirs  of  Bomilly's  Life,  vol.  iii.  pp.  102, 103. 


398  LIFE  OF  LORD 

going  into  court  at  Lincoln's  Inn  afterwards,  when,  perhaps,  the  cold- 
ness and  reserve  of  my  manner  might  attract  his  lordship's  notice,  he 
sent  for  me,  at  the  rising  of  the  court,  into  his  private  room,  and  began 
to  talk  about  Plumer's  appointment.  I  said,  your  lordship  certainly 
never  promised  me,  but  every  thing  short  of  a  promise  you  made  me. 
I  am  the  same  man  I  was  then ;  I  am  not  altered;  I  have  not  behaved 
ill.  But,  with  very  strong  language  he  said,  "Richards,  I  have" 
Other  counsel  then  came  in,  and  our  conversation  ended." 

Mr.  Richards,  however,  was  not  long  neglected.  In  1814,  the 
chancellor  made  him  a  puisne  baron,  and,  in  1816,  he  was  appointed 
Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer. 

The  chancellor's  grandson  and  heir,  the  present  earl,  having  more 
than  completed  his  seventh  year,  it  became  a  question  of  anxiety  writh 
his  mother,  Mrs.  Farrer,  who  had  been  appointed  by  Lord  Chancellor 
Erskine  to  be  his  guardian  jointly  with  Lord  Eldon,  on  what  system 
her  son's  education  should  be  conducted ;  and  Lord  Eldon,  to  whose 
advice  she  referred  herself  on  this  important  point  gave  his  opinion  in 
a  letter  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : — 

"  May  13th,  1813. 

"I  can  have  no  doubt  that  he  must  go  to  a  public  school,  and  I  offer  it  as  my  judg- 
ment, formed  upon  the  observation  which  a  long  and  active  life  has  given  me  the 
opportunity  of  making,  that  no  considerable  man  can  be  formed  in  a  private  one:  at 
least  this  is  so  generally  true,  that  instances  to  the  contrary  are  rather  cases  of  excep- 
tion than  instances  which  affect  its  general  truth.  I  do  not  mean  to  propose  that  he 
should  go  at  first  to  one  of  our  great  public  schools  ; — on  the  other  hand,  if  a  school 
is  so  limited  in  number  of  boys  as  to  carry  on  the  modern  system  of  private  educa- 
tion of  a  very  few  boys  together,  all  experience,  I  think,  proves  the  choice  of  such  a 
school  injudicious." 

The  session  of  1813  is  not  so  remarkable  for  any  debate  wherein  Lord 
Eldon  took  a  part,  as  for  the  passing  of  a  bill  in  relief  of  the  Irish 
Roman  Catholics,  which  it  was  not  thought  necessary,  in  his  judgment 
or  in  that  of  any  of  the  leading  exclusionists,  to  debate  at  all,  and  to 
which  Lord  Liverpool,  then  first  minister,  gave  his  express  approval. 
It  provided  that  Roman  Catholics  holding  any  civil  or  military  office 
granted  to  them  in  Ireland  under  the  Irish  act  of  33  Geo.  3.  c.  21, 
who  should  have  taken  the  oaths  by  that  Irish  act  prescribed,  should 
not  be  liable,  in  England,  in  the  navy,  or  in  Jersey  or  Guernsey,  to 
any  of  the  penalties  of  25  Car.  2.  c.  2,  or  to  any  penalties  for  not 
taking  tests ;  and  that  any  Roman  Catholic  having  taking  those  oaths, 
and  having  received  in  Ireland  a  commission  in  the  army,  should  not, 
on  receiving  a  higher  commission  in  Great  Britain,  be  liable  to  any  of 
the  said  penalties.  This  measure,  which  originated  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  was  introduced  by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  passed  into  law 
as  the  53  Geo.  3.  c.  128. 

The  prince  regent  came  himself  to  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  22d 
of  July,  and  prorogued  the  Parliament,  which  he  re-opened  in  per- 
son on  the  4th  of  the  following  November.  A  few  days  afterwards, 
Lord  Eldon  gives  this  account  of  his  own  position  in  the  good  graces 
of  the  royal  personage : — 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  399 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Dr.  Swire.')— (Extract.) 

(No  date;  endorsed  London,  Nor.  13th,  1813.) 
"Dear  Swire, 

"As  a  piece  of  church  news,  I  mention  to  you  that  Dr.  Parsons,  the  Jate  vice-chan- 
cellor, is  the  new  Bishop  of  Peterborough.  He  is  a  stout  fellow,  and  right,  I  believe, 
upon  points  of  modern  controversy, — the  Catholic  question  particularly ;  and  my 
young  master,  who  is  as  eager  as  his  father  was  upon  that,  and  of  the  same  way  of 
thinking,  seems  tome  to  be  looking  out  very  sincerely  for  those  who  are  able  and 
willing  to  support  church  and  state  as  we  have  had  them  in  times  past.  I  suppose 
this  and  Rowley's  promotion  will  mortify  our  gentlemen  at  Exeter  and  Brasenose 
colleges — the  respective  heads  of  which,  we  hear,  being  unwilling  to  illuminate  for 
our  late  glorious  successes,  have  had  their  lodgings,  as  far  as  windows  go,  most  com- 
pletely demolished.  What  a  blessing  to  himself  and  to  the  country  it  has  been,  that 
the  prince  did  not  succeed  to  government,  upon  the  king's  demise,  but  under  circum- 
stances which  have  given  him  an  opportunity  of  learning  what  he  would  otherwise 
never  have  known, — or,  as  the  queen  puts  it,  of  enabling  her  son  George  to  learn  that 
his  poor  father  knew  better  who  were  his  son's  best  friends  than  that  son  himself  did! 
He  is  conducting  himself  extremely  well.  His  father,  he  says,  often  told  him  not  to 
part  with  the  chancellor  ;  but  he  owns  to  me  that  he  hated  me  more  than  he  detested 
any  other  man  in  the  kingdom.  At  present,  many,  I  believe,  think  he  is  too  much 
attached  to  me,  and  I  am  sure  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  human  being  to  treat  ano- 
ther with  more  confidence  and  regard  than  he  does  me.  The  horrible  falsehoods 
with  which  wicked  politicians  had  filled  his  mind,  he  has  now  been  able,  by  doc- 
uments of  transactions  to  which  they  relate,  to  detect  fully.  Heavens !  what  a  talk 
you  and  I  might  have  together  on  this  subject  if  we  could  but  meet!  I  still  look  for- 
ward to  seeing  you  in  Yorkshire,  and,  in  despite  of  your  resolves,  to  seeing  you  and 
Mrs.  S.  in  my  paradise  in  Dorset." 


'400  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

1814. 

Adjournment  of  Parliament  for  the  settlement  of  European  affairs  under  the  general 
pacification. — Strictures  of  Sir  S.  Romilly  upon  Lord  Eldon's  conduct  with  respect 
to  Sir  W.  Garrow. — Project  for  a  marriage  of  the  Princess  Charlotte  with  the  Prince 
of  Orange:  letter  from  Lord  Liverpool  to  the  chancellor. — Prince  regent  and  Emperor 
of  Russia. — Freedom  of  merchant  tailors. — The  Duke  of  Wellington's  seat  in  the 
House  of  Lords  first  taken. — Princess  Charlotte  :  her  flight  from  Warwick  House: 
Lord  Eldon's  account  of  the  circumstances  of  her  return:  question  and  motion  of 
the  Duke  of  Sussex  in  the  House  of  Lords. — Offices  in  Reversion  Bill. — Debtors' 
Freehold  Estates  Bill. — Dr.  Swire's  present  to  Lord  Eldon  of  a  Bible:  Lord  Eldon's 
letter  to  him. 

THE  extraordinary  successes  of  the  continental  powers,  who  had  now 
rescued  their  dominions  from  the  usurpation  of  Napoleon  and  carried 
their  reprisals  into  the  territory  of  France  herself,  excited,  throughout 
the  British  empire,  a  very  general  hope,  that  by  a  vigorous  prosecu- 
tion of  hostilities  the  struggle  would  now  be  shortly  ended  and  ac- 
complished, and  a  safe  and  lasting  peace  achieved.  It  was  necessary, 
for  this  purpose,  to  provide  new  funds  and  to  negotiate  new  treaties  of 
alliance  ;  and  in  order  to  afford  the  interval  requisite  for  these  arrange- 
ments, the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  adjourned  on  the  20th  of  Decem- 
ber to  the  first  day  of  the  succeeding  March.  When  that  day  arrived,  a 
message  was  delivered  to  both  Houses  from  the  prince  regent  desiring 
their  further  adjournment  to  March  the  21st;  and  both  assemblies, 
after  some  discussion,  complied.  In  the  House  of  Lords  an  appre- 
hension was  expressed  that  considerable  evil  would  be  occasioned 
by  the  interruption  of  the  appeals.  The  lord  chancellor  answered 
that  as  the  adjournment  for  the  proposed  three  weeks  would  enable 
him  to  give  to  the  Court  of  Chancery  a  number  of  days  which  he  must 
otherwise  have  devoted  to  the  appeals,  he  should  think  himself  war- 
ranted in  appropriating  to  the  appeals,  when  the  House  should  re-as- 
semble, an  equal  portion  of  time  from  the  Court  of  Chancery. 

Sir  James  Mansfield,  whose  early  kindness  to  Lord  Eldon,  at  the 
time  of  the  Clitheroe  petition,  in  1781,  has  before  been  mentioned,  and 
who,  in  1804,  had  been  raised,  by  Lord  Eldon's  grateful  influence,  to 
the  chief  justiceship  of  the  Common  Pleas,  resigned  that  office  in  the 
vacation  between  Hilary  and  Easter  terms,  1814.  Shortly  before  this 
resignation,  Sir  S.  Romilly  writes  in  his  Diary  as  follows : — 

"Sir  Vicary  Gibbs,  it  seems  agreed  on  all  hands,  is  to  succeed  him  (Mansfield), 
but  who  is  to  succeed  Gibbs,  as  chief  baron,  seems  not  a  little  doubtful.  For  some 
time  it  was  considered  as  quite  settled  that  it  was  to  be  the  attorney-general  (Garrow)  ; 
and  he  has  himself  talked  very  confidently  about  it,  has  made  inquiries  respecting 
the  probable  state  of  business  upon  the  different  circuits,  and  has  observed  that  it 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  401 

would  be  an  affectation  in  him  to  be  silent  upon  what  every  body  else  was  speaking 
of.  How  well  qualified  he  is  to  preside  in  a  court  in  which  all  questions  respecting 
the  rights  of  the  crown  in  mailers  of  property  are  decided  may  be  conjectured  from 
what  passed  last  summer  in  the  House  of  Lords.  On  the  cl'aim  to  the  earldom  of 
Airlie,  the  question  was  whether  a  Scotch  entailed  title  of  honour  was  forfeited  by  its 
devolving  on  an  attainted  person,  subsequent  to  his  attainder;  or  whether  (as  I  had  to 
contend)  it  was  merely  suspended  during  his  life,  and  on  his  death  came  to  the  next 
heir  entail.  Garro  w,  as  attorney-general,  on  behalf  of  the  crown,  had  to  answer  Adam's 
and  my  argument.  Perceiving,  from  his  observations  to  me  while  the  claim  was  de- 
pending, how  little  he  knew  of  the  matter,  I  was  curious  to  see  how,  when  it  came  to 
him  to  speak,  he  would  extricate  himself  from  his  difficulty.  He  did  extricate  him- 
self, but  in  a  way  for  which  I  certainly  was  not  prepared.  He  appeared  at  the  bar  of 
the  House  of  Lords  with  a  written  argument,  the  whole  of  which  he  very  deliberately 
read,  without  venturing  to  add  a  single  observation  or  expression  of  his  own.  In  ihe 
Stafford  peerage,  which  stood  for  the  same  day,  he  did  exactly  the  same  thing.  He 
merely  read  an  argument  which  somebody  had  composed  for  him;  and  none  of  the 
lords  were  malicious  enough  to  interrupt  him,  or  to  put  any  questions  to  him  on  any 
of  the  doctrines  which  he  had  to  maintain.  I  have  since  been  informed,  that  both 
these  arguments  were  written  by  Hobhouse,  one  of  the  solicitors  of  the  treasury.  A 
very  new  sort  of  exhibition  this  by  an  attorney-general !  Two  days  afterwards,  in 
the  Court  of  Chancery,  on  a  question  whether  a  manager  of  a  theatre  could  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  his  office  without  personal  attendance,  I  who  had  to  argue  that 
he  could  not,  said  that  it  would  be  as  difficult  as  for  a  counsel  to  do  his  duty  in  that 
court  by  writing  arguments,  and  sending  them  to  some  person  to  read  them  for  him. 
The  lord  chancellor  interrupted  me  by  saying,  'In  this  court  or  in  any  other?'  And 
after  the  court  rose,  he  said  to  me, '  You  knew,  I  suppose,  what  I  alluded  to  7  It  was 
Garrow's  written  argument  in  the  House  of  Lords.'  So  little  respect  has  his  lordship 
for  an  attorney-general  whom  he  himself  appointed  because  he  was  agreeable  to  the 
prince."* 

On  this  it  is  observable  that  the  minister,  and  not  the  chancellor, 
appoints  the  attorney-general.  It  may  be  quite  true  that  the  chancel- 
lor would  usually  be  consulted  in  such  an  appointment:  but  it  is  one 
thing  to  bestow  a  promotion,  another  not  to  take  the  strong  and  in- 
vidious course  of  putting  a  veto  upon  it.  The  chancellor,  having 
neither  practised  nor  presided  in  the  courts  where  Sir  William  Garrow 
was  an  advocate,  knew  but  little  of  him  beyond  his  general  celebrity 
at  Nisi  Prius ;  and  it  was  probably  from  the  same  unfrequency  of  in- 
tercourse with  him  that  Sir  Samuel  himself  appears  to  have  been  una- 
ware of  his  incompetency  for  certain  kinds  of  legal  argument,  until 
it  became  apparent  from  the  observations  he  made  to  Sir  Samuel  upon 
this  very  peerage  some  time  before  the  hearing. — Sir  W.  Garrow  did 
not  obtain  the  appointment  of  chief  baron.  It  was  given  to  Sir 
Alexander  Thomson,  one  of  the  puisne  barons,  who  was  succeeded 
by  Mr.  Richards.  Sir  W.  Garrow  was  never  promoted  beyond  the 
rank  of  a  puisne  baron,  which  he  accepted  in  1817. 

In  April  the  treaties  were  signed,  by  which  the  continental  war  was 
brought  to  a  conclusion,  the  Bourbons  replaced  on  the  throne  of  France, 
and  the  sovereignty  of  Napoleon  circumscribed  by  the  shores  of  the 
island  of  Elba. 

The  friendly  relations,  which  the  circumstances  of  Europe  had 
established  between  Great  Britain  and  Holland,  now  suggested  the 
Prince  of  Orange  as  a  suitable  consort  for  the  regent's  only  daughter, 
the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales,  who  was  presumptive  heiress  to  the 
British  crown,  and  then  in  her  eighteenth  year.  On  the  prospect  of 

*  Memoirs  of  Romilly's  Life,  vol.  iii.  pp.  127,  128. 
VOL.  i.— 26 


402  LIFE  OF  LORD 

this  union  (which  was  never  matured)  the  following  letter  was  ad- 
dressed by  Lord  Liverpool  to  the  chancellor  : — 

"Fife  House,  April  27th,  1814. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  am  very  much  pressed  by  Mr.  Fagel  for  the  project  of  the  convention  we  pro- 
mised him. 

"Upon  the  principle,  I  conceive  there  is  no  difficulty.  One  point  is  indispensable, 
—  that  the  sovereignty  of  Great  Britain  and  Holland  shall  never  be  in  the  same 
person. 

"Another  is  desirable,  but  not  indispensable, — that  the  succession  to  the  two  sove- 
reignties shall,  if  possible,  go  to  the  descendants  in  different  lines,  so  that  their  re- 
spective pretensions  may  not  afterwards  clash. 

"  With  respect  to  the  hereditary  Prince  of  Orange,  we  cannot  call  upon  him  to  give 
up  his  rights,  as  future  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands.  But  he  will  never  be  king  of 
this  country,  nor  be  any  thing  in  the  country,  when  he  resides  here,  but  a  subject. — 
His  eldest  son,  if  he  lives,  will  be  King  of  Great  Britain.  There  is  no  difficulty, 
therefore,  about  excluding  him  specifically  from  the  sovereignty  of  Holland.  His 
second  son,  it  is  proposed,  should  succeed  to  the  sovereignty  of  Holland.  If,  by  the 
death  of  his  brother,  he  succeeded  to  the  sovereignty  of  Great  Britain,  he  of  course 
must  give  up  the  sovereignty  of  Holland.  But  the  question  of  doubt  is,  whether,  if 
he  succeeded  to  be  heir  apparent  or  heir  presumptive  to  the  sovereignty  of  Great 
Britain,  he  should  thereby  forfeit  the  sovereignty  of  Holland. 

"Is  not  this  a  Dutch  question,  and  might  it  not  be  left  to  the  Dutch  legislature  to 
determine  1  All  we  are  bound  to  provide  is,  that  the  two  sovereignties  shall  not  be 
in  the  same  person ;  and  we  have  no  objection  to  stipulate  that  the  first-born  son  of 
the  marriage  shall  not  succeed  to  the  sovereignty  of  Holland. 

"Surely  there  can  be  no  difficulty  in  providing  that  all  other  contingencies  as  to 
the  sovereignty  of  Holland  shall  depend  upon  the  laws  of  Holland,  provided  always 
that  the  two  sovereignties  never  are  vested  in  one  person. 

"  This  can  involve  us  in  no  difficulty,  because  it  is  not  proposed  to  make  any  altera- 
tion in  the  succession  to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain. 

"I  wish  you  would  try  to  draw  up  a  short  stipulation  in  this  sense  and  to  this 
effect ;  and  I  am  anxious,  for  reasons  that  will  occur  to  you,  that  it  should  be  done 
soon. 

"  Believe  me  to  be,  my  dear  lord, 

•  "  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"  LIVERPOOL." 

In  the  month  of  June,  1814,  the  allied  sovereigns  paid  a  visit  to 
this  country.  The  Anecdote  Book  has  this  little  story  of  the  Emperor 
of  Russia: — 

"  When  the  Emperor  of  Russia  was  in  England,  (as  to  whom  ru- 
mour represented  that  there  was  not  much  of  a  better  agreement  be- 
tween him  and  his  wife  than  between  our  prince  regent  and  his 
spouse,)  the  emperor  and  the  prince  regent  being  together  in  a  car- 
riage in  the  streets  of  London,  one  of  the  mob  put  his  head  into  the 
carriage  nearly,  and  said,  'Where's  your  wife?  Where's  your  wife?' 
The  prince  regent  is  reported  to  have  said, '  Emperor,  that's  for  you !' ' 

On  the  first  of  this  same  month  of  June,  the  Court  of  Assistants  of 
the  Merchant  Tailors  Company  had  passed  a  series  of  resolutions,  vot- 
ing the  freedom  of  their  Company  to  Lord  Eldon,  and  panegyrizing,  in 
the  highest  terms,  his  ability  and  learning,  his  loyalty  to  his  sovereign 
and  his  attachment  to  the  constitution  of  his  country  in  church  and 
state.  Lord  Eldon  fails  not  to  commemorate  in  his  Anecdote  Book 
the  compliment  thus  paid  to  him.  "  The  very  respectable  Company 
of  Merchant  Tailors,  in  London,  did  me  the  honour  to  confer  upon 
me  the  freedom  of  that  Company.  Their  motto  is  '  Concordid  parvee 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  403 

res  crescuntS     That  wicked  wag,  John  Wilkes,  construed  these  words 
thus:  'Nine  tailors  make  a  man.' ' 

During  the  9th,  10th  and  llth  of  June  there  were  rejoicings  in 
London,  for  the  successful  termination  of  the  war  with  France.  The 
metropolis  was  illuminated  on  each  of  these  nights ;  and  Lord  Eldon's 
house  in  Bedford  Square  displayed,  in  letters  formed  of  lamps,  the 
words,  "  THANKS  TO  GOD." 

The  28th  was  the  day  on  which  the  Duke  of  Wellington  took  his 
seat  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Lord  Eldon's  Anecdote  Book  has  the 
following  observations  upon  the  peculiarity  of  the  circumstances  in 
which  the  duke  entered  that  assembly : — 

"It  happened  to  be  my  duty,  when  I  was  chancellor,  upon  the 
Duke  of  Wellington's  first  coming  into  the  House  of  Lords,  to  return 
him  the  thanks  of  that  House  for  his  great  services  to  his  country.  I 
am  not  aware  of  any  other  instance  in  the  peerage  of  an  individual 
being,  at  his  first  entrance  into  the  House,  a  baron,  a  viscount,  an 
earl,  a  marquis  and  a  duke,  having  had  from  time  to  time  each  title 
conferred  upon  him  for  distinct  services  to  his  country.  I  made  that 
singular  fact  a  distinct  and  leading  topic  in  my  address  to  him.  In- 
dividuals of  the  royal  family  may  have  been  introduced,  having  by 
patent  all  the  dignities  at  one  moment  conferred  upon  them  by  royal 
favour.  But  this  nobleman  rose,  from  time  to  time,  from  one  dignity 
to  another,  until  he  had  attained  every  dignity,  each  conferred  by 
distinct  grants*  made  upon  different  occasions  for  different  services, 
and  all  those  services  rendered  to  the  country  before  he  could  return 
to  it  to  take  his  seat  after  the  grant  of  the  dignities.  What  I  stated  is 
printed  in  the  Journals  of  the  House." 

Some  public  sensation  was  excited  in  the  course  of  this  month  of 
July,  1814,  by  a  sudden  movement  of  the  Princess  Charlotte.  She 
was  resident  at  Warwick  House,  when,  on  the  12th,  the  prince  re- 
gent, accompanied  by  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  who  had  the  superin- 
tendence of  her  royal  highness's  education,  unexpectedly  visited  her, 
and,  pronouncing  the  dismission  of  her  attendants,  declared  his  inten- 
tion of  taking  her  with  him  to  Carlton  House.  The  whole  proceeding, 
and  the  conversation  which  accompanied  it,  appear  to  have  been  very 
painful  and  startling  to  her  royal  highness,  who,  requesting  leave  to 
retire,  escaped  by  the  back  staircase  into  the  street,  hurried  into  a 
hackney  coach,  and  drove  to  Connaught  House,  the  then  residence  of 
her  mother.  As  soon  as  the  place  of  the  young  princess's  retreat  was 
ascertained,  the  Duke  of  York,  the  lord  chancellor,  and  some  other 
person,  proceeded  thither,  with  instructions  from  the  regent  to  bring 
her  back. 

The  sequel  was  thus  briefly  related  by  Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Fors- 
ter  :— 

"  When  we  arrived  I  informed  her  a  carriage  was  at  the  door  and 
we  would  attend  her  home.  But  home  she  would  not  go.  She  kicked 
and  bounced ;  but  would  not  go.  Well,  to  do  my  office  as  gently  as 

*  The  dignities  of  baron  and  viscount  appear  to  have  been  by  one  grant. 


404  LIFE  OF  LORD 

I  could,  I  told  her  I  was  sorry  for  it,  for  until  she  did  go,  she  would 
be  obliged  to  entertain  us,  as  we  would  not  leave  her.     At  last  she 

a  ' 

accompanied  us." 

She  remained  at  Carlton  House  during  a  part  of  the  summer,  and 
then  removed  to  Cranborne  Lodge  in  Windsor  Forest.  Her  change 
of  abode  from  Warwick  House  to  Carlton  House  was  made  the  sub- 
ject of  some  inquiries  in  the  House  of  Lords,  addressed  to  Lord  Liver- 
pool by  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  one  of  which  was,  whether  her  royal 
highness,  since  her  removal  to  Carlton  House,  had  the  same  liberty 
of  communication  with  her  friends  and  connections  as  at  Warwick 
House?  Lord  Liverpool  declined  to  answer  a  question  which  inter- 
fered with  the  paternal  rights  of  the  prince  regent  acting  for  his 
majesty:  upon  which  the  royal  duke  disclaimed  the  least  idea  of  any 
thing  disrespectful  toward  the  prince  regent. 

The  lord  chancellor  said  he  could  not  give  a  silent  vote.  He  was  persuaded  that 
the  royal  duke  had  no  intention  disrespectful  toward  the  great  person  alluded  to,  but 
he  must  take  the  liberty  of  saying,  that  if  his  noble  friend  had  answered  those  ques- 
tions, he  would  have  been  guilty  of  a  breach  of  his  duty;  he  would  have  betrayed 
his  duty  to  his  sovereign:  and  if  he  had  answered  the  question  respecting  the  prin- 
cess's communication  with  her  friends  and  connections  (it  might  as  well  have  been 
said  of  her  enemies)  he  himself  would  never  again  have  conversed  with  him. — 
Could  such  a  question  be  said  to  convey  no  imputation]  But  if  it  were  only  upon 
the  ministers  of  the  crown  that  the  animadversion  was  intended  to  attach, — if  it  were 
made  but  in  reference  to  the  advice  which  it  might  be  supposed  that  they  had  oft'ered, 
— he  must  say  that  the  subject  was  one  upon  which  the  constitution  had  given  to  no 
man  a  right  of  interposing  lightly.  The  great  person  alluded  to  had  the  exclusive 
title  to  direct  the  education  of  his  child;  at  least  a  very  strong  ground,  indeed,  must 
be  laid  to  warrant  the  interposition  of  Parliament  with  respect  to  advice  so  given  and 
followed.  And  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  being  able  to  state,  in  the  face  of  the  country, 
that  the  whole  conduct  of  that  great  person  toward  his  illustrious  daughter  had  been, 
such  as  to  merit  the  applause,  and  not  the  censure,  of  the  country. 

A  motion  on  the  same  subject,  of  which  the  Duke  of  Sussex  gave 
notice  for  the  27th,  was  on  the  25th  withdrawn  by  his  royal  highness. 

The  lord  chancellor  expressed  his  opinion  that  it  was  withdrawn  very  properly, 
but  added  his  desire  to  have  it  distinctly  understood,  that  nothing  which  had  passed 
in  that  House  had  influenced  the  advisers  of  the  prince  regent  on  this  subject.  He 
had  never  meant  to  contend  that  there  might  not  be  cases  touching  the  royal  family, 
in  which  it  might  be  the  duty  of  Parliament  to  interfere;  but  he  maintained  that  no 
ground  whatever  had  been  laid  for  such  interference  in  the  present  instance. 

The  month  of  July  produced  several  discussions,  in  which  the  lord 
chancellor  bore  a  part.  One  of  them  was  on  a  bill  sent  up  up  from 
the  Commons,  to  suspend,  until  the  next  session,  the  granting  of  offices 
in  reversion.  A  similar  suspension  act  having  been  passed  in  the 
session  preceding, 

Lord  Grosvenor,  in  moving  the  second  reading  of  the  present  bill,  on  the  8th  of 
July,  1814,  founded  himself  on  the  chancellor's  acquiescence  in  the  previous  one, 
which  acquiescence,  however,  he  intimated,  might  have  been  owing  to  an  expression 
of  popular  opinion  so  strong  that  the  learned  lord  had  not  chosen  to  oppose  it.  If 
this  measure  should  be  rejected  by  their  lordships,  the  other  House,  as  the  session 
was  too  far  advanced  for  the  introduction  of  another  bill,  would  probably  think  fit  to 
address  the  crown  upon  the  subject. 

The  lord  chancellor  said  he  could  not  consent  to  these  repetitions  of  suspension, 
bills.  The  noble  earl  had  chosen  to  ascribe  his  former  acquiescence  to  his  sensibility 
to  popular  opinion.  He  would  tell  the  noble  earl  that  if  the  popular  opinion  appeared 
to  him  to  be  just,  he  was  always  happy  to  concur  in  it;  if  unjust,  he  wished  to  go  on, 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  405 

as  he  had  done  during  his  life,  without  being  influenced  by  it;  and  he  was  convinced 
that  Parliament  would  have  heard  much  less  of  the  measures  of  reform  to  which  the 
le  ear!  alluded,  had  other  people  acted  on  the  same  principle.  The  noble  earl 
talked  of  the  wisdom  of  the  other  House  of  Parliament.  It  was  a  wonderfully  wise 
way  of  legislating,  truly,  after  their  lordships  had  six  times  (five  times  on  the  second 
reading  and  once  on  the  third)  rejected  a  permanent  bill  on  this  subject,  to  send  them 
up  annually  a  bill  of  suspension,  with  the  evident  view  eventually  to  force  the  whole 
measure  If  they  were  to  go  on,  year  after  year,  agreeing  to  such  bills,  the  statute- 
book  would  be  filled  with  temporary  and  mischievous  expedients  merely  Was  it 
consistent  with  their  lordships'  dignity,  that  that  which  they  had  so  repeatedly  refused 
do  should  be  attempted  by  these  yearly  and  gradual  attacks !  With  respect  to  the 
argument  derived  by  the  noble  earl  from  the  course  that  would  probably  be  adopted 
by  the  other  House  of  Parliament  in  the  event  of  the  rejection  of  the  present  mea- 
sure, he  would  not  condescend  to  answer  it.  If  their  lordships  were  to  be  induced  to 
modify  their  proceedings  by  any  such  suppositions  or  circumstances,  they  had  better 
shut  their  doors  at  once.  In  objecting  to  this  bill,  he  simply  maintained  the  respect 
which  was  due  to  that  House. 

The  bill  was  thrown  out. 

The  chancellor,  on  the  18th  of  July,  opposed  also  a  bill,  sent  up 
from  the  Commons,  for  rendering  the  freehold  estates,  of  persons  dyino- 
indebted,  liable  to  their  simple  contract  debts. 

It  was  always  (said  he)  in  the  creditor's  power  to  stipulate  for  a  bond,  and  then  he 
would  have  his  remedy  against  the  land  of  the  debtor.  This  bill,  while  it  went  to 
remove  the  guards  with  which  the  policy  of  the  law  had  fenced  landed  property, 
afforded  in  fact  but  little  benefit  to  the  creditor;  and  it  was  better  that  he  should  be 
left  to  use  his  own  caution  and  discretion  than  that  he  should  sit  down  in  apathy, 
under  the  notion  that  the  legislature  would  take  care  of  his  interests. 

The  bill  was  rejected  without  a  division. — On  the  30th,  that  ses- 
sion of  Parliament  was  closed,  with  a  speech  from  the  prince  regent 
in  person ;  and  the  following  session  was  opened,  in  like  form,  on  the 
8th  of  November  in  the  same  year. 

On  the  4th  of  December,  Lord  Eldon  writes  thus  to  his  confiden- 
tial correspondent,  Dr.  Swire,  thanking  him  for  a  present  of  a  Bible: — 

"  Sunday. 
"  Dear  Swire, 

"Last  night  brought  me  yonr  invaluable  present;  and  I  beg  you  to  believe  that  I 
receive  it  with  the  most  grateful  feelings  towards  him  who  has  thought  of  my  best 
interests  when  he  sent  it  to  me.  I  shall  not  rest  till  I  can  come  personally  to  thank 
you  for  it.  It  is  a  consolation  to  me,  which  I  cannot  duly  estimate,  that,  in  a  life 
which  from  its  nature  has  compelled  me  to  sacrifice  almost  every  hour  (in  this  state 
of  probation)  of  adult  periods  to  worldly  concerns,  the  impressions  which  I  received 
in  infancy  and  in  very  early  youth,  respecting  the  doctrines  contained  in  this  volume, 
have  continued  so  lively  and  so  strong,  that  I  have  seldom  engaged  in  any  important 
act,  without  recollecting  in  what  manner  I  have  been  herein  taught  that  I  shall  be 
accountable  for  it  at  the  throne  of  justice  and  mercy.  Through  that  mercy,  I  humbly 
hope  that  that  justice  will  pardon  what  I  must  otherwise  think  of  with  despair.  I 
had  thought  that  ere  this  time  I  should  have  been  disengaged  from  the  fatigue  and 
oppression  (for  it  begins  to  be  oppressive  at  my  years)  of  my  office.  But  I  have 
found  it  more  difficult  to  persuade  others  than  to  persuade  myself,  that  it  is  time  for 
me  to  go.  Providence  and  the  country  have  bestowed  upon  me  so  much  more  than 
I  could  hope  or  deserve,  that  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  some  what  ashamed  of  quitting  my 
post,  when  those  who  are  entrusted  to  judge  think  that  I  may  still  be  useful;  but  the 
struggle  between  inclination  to  resign  and  reluctance  to  be  thought  too  willing  to 
consult  my  own  ease,  cannot  last  much  longer,  because  it  must  soon  become  a  ques- 
tion about  existence.  I  note  all  other  parts  of  your  letter,  and  shall  give  all  due 
attention  to  them.  Lady  Eldon  joins  me  in  affectionate  regards  to  you  and  Mrs. 
Swire.  "Ever,  dear  Swire, 

"  Yours  faithfully, 

"ELDOH." 


406  LIFE  OF  LORD 

The  Bible  referred  to  in  this  letter  was  in  Lord  Eldon's  possession 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  It  has  the  following  words  in  his  hand- 
writing : — 

"This  book  was  given  to  me  by  the  Reverend  Samuel  Swire,  D.D.,  rector  of  Mel- 
sonby,  in  the  county  of  York,  and  formerly  Fellow  of  University  College,  Oxford.  I 
presented  him  to  the  rectory  of  Barningham,  nearly  contiguous  to  Melsonby,  after  he 
had  refused  preferments  at  a  distance  from  Melsonby,  declining  to  shear  the  flock 
which  he  could  not  feed. — ELDON." 

After  this  come  the  following  words,  likewise  in  Lord  Eldon's 
hand- writing,  but  apparently  written  at  another  time : — 

"The  Scriptures  have  God  for  their  author, — salvation  for  their  objects — and,  as 
to  the  matter  they  contain,  God  being  their  author,  it  is  truth  without  mixture  of 
error."* 

A  small  volume,  containing  the  latter  portion  of  the  New  Testament, 
in  Greek,  was  also  in  Lord  Eldon's  possession  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  It  has  the  following  words  in  his  hand- writing: — 

"This  little  book  my  revered  schoolmaster,  Hugh  Mouses,  generally  had  in  his 
pocket — nearly  always  in  his  walks. — Eldon. — I  desire  this  to  be  preserved  in  my 
family  as  long  as  possible." 

*  "  Let  him  study  the  Holy  Scripture,  especially  the  New  Testament.  Therein  are 
contained  the  words  of  eternal  life:  it  has  God  for  its  author;  salvation  for  its  end  ; 
and  truth,  without  any  mixture  of  error,  for  its  matter." — Locke's  Works,  (1812,)  vol. 
x.  p.  306:  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Richard  King,  August  25th,  1703. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  407 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

1815. 

Scotch  Jury  Bill. — Corn-Law  riots:  attack  on  Lord  Eldon's  house:  his  narrative  of 
particulars:  letter  from  Queen  Charlotte  to  the  Hon.  Miss  Scott.— Reply  of  Lord 
Eldon  in  the  House  of  Lords  to  the  Duke  of  Gloucester. — Second  bill  respecting 
freehold  estates  of  debtors. — Mr.  Jekyll's  appointment  to  a  mastership  in  chancery: 
anecdotes  connected  with  it. — Marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland. — Detention 
of  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena:  letters  of  Lord  Eldon  and  Lord  Liverpool  upon  the 
principle  of  it. 

A  BILL  for  enabling  the  Scotch  courts  to  extend  the  trial  by  jury  to 
civil  causes,  (the  55th  of  Geo.  3.  c.  42,)  was  introduced  into  the 
House  of  Lords  by  the  chancellor  on  the  16th  of  February,  1815, 
when  he  withdrew  a  former  and  less  perfect  bill,  presented  before 
Christmas.  The  measure  was  more  fully  explained  by  him  on  the 
23d  of  February,  when  he  moved  the  second  reading. 

He  represented  it  to  be  a  very  material  improvement  on  the  then  existing  law;  and 
though  it  did  not  effect  all  which  might  be  thought  desirable,  he  thought  that  to  do 
even  thus  much  was  far  better  than  to  do  nothing,  and  that  this  step  would  lead  to 
the  accomplishment,  at  no  distant  period,  of  further  improvements,  in  which  the  feel- 
ings of  the  Scotch  people  would  concur.  He  had  great  satisfaction  in  stating  that 
what  was  now  proposed  was  likely  to  be  agreeable  to  them ;  and  certainly,  consider- 
ing how  long  the  then  existing  system  had  been  established,  he  wished  that  any 
changes  attempted  should  be  with  their  full  concurrence. 

When  the  bill  was  in  committee,  on  the  28th,  some  conversation 
arose  about  the  expediency  of  requiring  unanimity  in  the  verdicts ; 
and  the  chancellor,  being  requested  to  declare  his  opinion,  said, 

He  did  not  mean  to  decline  delivering  his  opinion,  which  was  fixed  and  clear  from 
long  practice,  experience  and  observation.  He  was  most  decidedly  convinced  that 
the  principle  of  agreement  by  the  jury  in  their  verdict  was  essential  to  that  mode  of 
administering  justice. 

Lord  Redesdale,  Lord  Erskine  and  other  peers  expressed  the  same 
opinion ;  and  on  the  motion  of  the  chancellor,  a  clause  for  giving 
effect  to  it  was  inserted  when  the  bill  was  reported.* 

In  the  beginning  of  March,  Lord  Eldon  had  a  narrow  escape  from 
a  considerable  peril.  The  bill,  then  in  its  progress  through  Parlia- 
ment, for  imposing  a  duty  on  the  importation  of  foreign  corn,  was 
extremely  obnoxious  to  the  lower  classes  of  the  metropolitan  popula- 
tion ;  and  on  the  6th  of  March,  before  the  hour  when  the  business  of 
the  two  Houses  usually  begins,  a  discontented  crowd  began  to  collect 
in  the  lobbies  and  avenues  that  lead  to  them.  Being  obliged  by  the 
constables  in  attendance  to  retire,  the  angry  multitude  took  post  about 
the  environs  of  Westminster  Hall,  where  they  obstructed  the  access 

*  Sect.  34. 


LIFE  OF  LORD 

of  members,  and  continued  to  conduct  themselves  in  so  riotous  a 
manner  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  call  out  the  troops. 

Lord  Eldon's  residence  was  then  at  No.  6  in  Bedford  Square ;  and 
thither,  about  ten  o'clock  at  night,  a  body  of  the  mob  proceeded. 
They  broke  all  the  windows ;  and  tearing  up  some  of  the  iron  railings 
before  the  area,  they  employed  these  as  crow-bars  to  wrench  an 
entrance.  The  outer  door  giving  way  beneath  this  violence,  they 
rushed  in  and  instantly  filled  the  hall  and  a  room  opening  into  it ; 
and  then,  finding  the  interior  barred  against  them,  they  betook  them- 
selves to  the  work  of  destruction  where  they  were.  The  back  pre- 
mises fortunately  communicated  with  the  gardens  of  the  British 
Museum,  and  there  Lord  Eldon's  family  took  refuge.  They  gave 
the  alarm  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Museum  guard,  who,  hastening  across 
to  the  back  of  the  dwelling-house,  soon  entered  it  and  drove  out  all 
the  intruders,  except  two  who  were  taken  into  custody  on  the  spot ; 
but  this  clearance  was  only  effected  after  the  total  demolition  of  the 
furniture  in  the  hall  and  adjoining  room.  It  was  not  till  after  eleven, 
on  the  arrival  of  a  party  of  the  Horse  Guards,  that  the  mob  retreated 
wholly  from  Bedford  Square.  They  soon  collected  again,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Great  Russell  Street,  where  they  did  further  mis- 
chief. The  riot  continued  in  various  parts  of  the  town  during  the 
7th,  8th  and  9th  of  March.  By  this  time,  however,  the  houses  of  the 
lord  chancellor,  and  of  many  other  leading  members  of  the  ministry 
and  of  the  legislature,  were  garrisoned  with  soldiers ;  and  London 
being  finally  surrounded  by  troops  on  every  hand,  the  disturbances 
ended. 

Lord  Eldon  afterwards  found  leisure  to  write  in  his  Anecdote 
Book  some  details  of  this  affair,  which  are  as  follows: — 

"  When  my  house  in  Bedford  Square  was  attacked  by  a  mob,  sup- 
posing that  I  had  supported  in  Parliament  the  Corn  Bill,*  upon  which 
I  had  never  uttered  a  word,  or  indeed  had  ever  been  called  upon  to 
form,  and  therefore  never  had  expressed  an  opinion  upon  it,  the  fury 
of  the  mob  was  very  great.  The  front  windows  and  door  of  the 
house  were  demolished,  some  furniture  destroyed,  and  many  papers, 
including  some  judgments,  thrown  out  of  doors.  The  alarm  in  the 
house  was  excessive.  I  was  obliged  to  remove  my  wife  and  children 
into  the  British  Museum,  and  with  some  difficulty  got  a  corporal  and 
four  soldiers  through  the  Museum  garden  into  the  house  while  the 
mob  were  in  it.  I  proposed  to  the  corporal  that  we  should  proceed 
out  of  my  study  into  the  great  room  which  adjoins  it,  and  from  that 
into  the  dining-room ;  and,  the  mob  being  in  the  hall  and  a  little  ad- 
joining room,  we  should  be  able  to  surprise  and  secure  them.  He 
was  a  Scotchman,  and  said,  '  We  are  not  strong  enough  to  keep  them 
in,  but  with  good  management  we  may  drive  them  out.  I  won't  let 
my  men  put  powder  and  ball  into  their  muskets,  but  they  shall  fix 
their  bayonets,  and  if  you  will  go  with  me,  and,  when  we  get  out  of 
this  study  into  the  hall,  will  give  me  your  orders  to  charge  them  with 

*  He  had  said  a  few  words  in  1814,  June  4th,  in  deprecation  of  the  general  cla- 
mour on  the  subject  of  the  Corn  Laws. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  409 

the  bayonets,  I  will,  and  my  men  shall  obey  these  orders ;  but  we 
must  make  the  best  appearance  we  can,  and,  as  there  are  only  four 
soldiers,  they  must  follow  one  by  one,  and  we  must  so  manage  the 
matter,  that  the  mob  may  suppose  that  there  will  be  no  end  of  them 
who  are  coming.'  Accordingly  we  so  advanced,  and  the  corporal, 
calling  out  to  his  soldiers  to  come,  in  language  tending  to  make  it 
believed  that  they  were  numerous,  the  mob  fled  with  great  precipita- 
tion. The  front  doors  being  demolished,  two  soldiers  guarded  the 
entrance,  crossing  their  muskets.  The  mob  held  a  consultation  at 
the  top  of  Keppel  Street,  whether  they  should  attack  the  house  again ; 
but,  conceiving  the  military  corps  inside  to  be  strong,  they  gave  it  up. 
I  brought  into  the  house  by  their  collars  two  of  the  mob,  and  told 
them  that  they  would  be  hanged.*  One  of  them  bid  me  look  to  my- 
self, and  told  me  that  the  people  were  much  more  likely  to  hang  me 
than  I  was  to  procure  any  of  them  to  be  hanged.  They  were  sent 
before  a  justice  of  peace,  but  the  soldiers  said  they  would  do  their 
duty  as  soldiers,  but  they  would  not  be  witnesses.  The  government 
sent  us  some  soldiers,  and  increased  their  number  till  they  were 
about  fifty,  and  a  very  considerable  part  of  that  number  remained 
about  three  weeks  in  the  house,  persons  in  the  front  of  the  house 
from  time  to  time  using  menacing  language  and  threats,  whenever, 
from  the  streets,  they  saw  any  persons  in  the  house.  During  all  that 
time  I  could  only  leave  the  house  by  going  through  the  Museum  gar- 
dens, and  into  the  streets  from  the  Museum,  attended  to  Westminster 
on  foot  by  Townsend  of  the  police,  through  all  the  obscure  streets  and 
alleys  in  which  we  could  find  a  passage.  I  thank  God  we  got  my 
wife  and  children  safe  from  their  retreat  in  the  Museum." 

"  Townsend  spent  all  his  nights  in  the  house  reading  my  books, 
and  when  I  came  down,  one  morning,  he  said  he  had  been  delighted 
in  reading  those  great  creatures  Hale  and  Holt ;  but  he  had  been 
more  surprised  than  he  could  describe  by  the  talk  of  the  corporal. 
'I  told  him,'  said  Townsend,  'that  Sir  Joseph  Banks's  house  had 
been  attacked  by  the  mob,  and  what  do  you  think,'  says  he,  'the 
corporal  said  to  me?  Your  lordship  has  had  a  fine  education,  and 
therefore  it  would  not  have  been  surprising  if  you  had  said  what  he 
said.  Indeed,  though  I  have  not  been  blessed,'  he  added,  'with  as 
good  an  education  as  your  lordship  has  had,  yet,  in  the  late  years  I 
have  been  amongst  the  best  of  company,  and  therefore  /  might  have 
said  what  he  said  to  me,  but  that  he,  a  poor  Scotch  corporal  who 

*  The  "  Law  Magazine,"  No.  xliv.,  gives  the  story  more  racily.    "  Lord  Eldon  col- 
lared one  of  the  intruders,  and  said, '  If  you  don't  mind  what  you  are  about,  my  man. 
you'll  be  hanged.'     The  visitor  replied, '  Perhaps  so,  old  chap,  but  I  think  it  looks 
noiwasif  you  would  be  hanged  first.'    'And,' added  the  old  peer,  with  somewhat 
more  archness  than  usual  in  his  sweet  and  intelligent  smile, « I  had  my  misgivings 
that  he  was  in  the  right.'     On  another  occasion,"  continues  the  same  record,  "  when 
the  House  of  Lords  was  surrounded  by  a  multitude  incensed  to  fury  against  the  C 
Laws,  and  the  lord  chancellor  was,  amongst  others,  marked  out  for  insult,  the  people, 
on  finding,  when  his  carriage  drove  up  to  take  him  away,  that  his  wife,  who  had 
in  the  habit  of  coming  to  meet  him,  was  in  it,  and  had  not  been  deterred  through  le 
of  their  violence,  at  once  changed  their  intention,  and,  giving  a  cheer  t<  ady, 

allowed  both  of  them  to  depart  in  peace." 


410  LIFE  OF  LORD 

knew  nothing  of  good  company,  and  had  seen  nothing  but  what  he 
observed  in  going  through  the  "Ninsula,"  should  pick  up  such  fine 
language,  was  really  surprising.'  'What  was  it,'  said  I,  'Town- 
send?'  'Well,'  said  he,  'my  lord,  would  you  believe  it,  he  ex- 
claimed, "Have  they  hurt  the  phoenix  of  Botany?'"*  My  poor 
excellent  corporal  and  commander  was  shot  at  Waterloo." 

The  queen  took  the  occasion  of  the  lord  chancellor's  danger  and 
escape,  to  express,  in  a  letter  to  his  eldest  daughter,  that  kind  interest 
and  friendly  feeling  with  which  the  royal  family  delighted  to  honour 
him. 

(  Queen  Charlotte  to  the  Hon.  Miss  Scott.") 

"Windsor,  March  8th,  1815. 
"  Madam, 

"  Though  I  am  willing  to  give  credit  to  the  newspapers,  that  the  lord  chancellor  is 
quite  well  after  the  disturbances  of  Monday  last,  I  am  yet  anxious  to  have  this  plea- 
sing circumstance  confirmed  by  you,  and  desire  to  be  informed  that  neither  the  lord 
chancellor  nor  Lady  Eldon  have  seriously  suffered  from  it.  I  cannot  help  being 
anxious  about  the  lord  chancellor,  for  whose  personal  character  I  entertain  so  high  an 
esteem,  and  I  feel  that  were  it  different  I  should  with  truth  be  deemed  ungrateful. 

"  CHARLOTTE." 

On  the  17th,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  Lord  Eldon,  with  some  warmth, 
opposed  a  motion,  made  by  Lord  Grenville,  for  allowing  the  city  of 
London  to  be  heard  by  counsel  against  the  Corn  Bill.  Lord  Eldon 
grounded  his  opposition  on  the  general  rule,  that  petitioners  are  not 
to  be  heard  by  counsel  upon  a  bill  in  which  they  have  no  special 
interest ;  and  that  there  was  no  reason  for  showing  any  peculiar  favour 
to  the  city  of  London.  Being  irregularly  interrupted  by  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  he  paused  to  rebuke  that  royal  person,  with  as  much  firm- 
ness as  if  the  impropriety  had  been  committed  by  any  undistinguished 
member  of  the  peerage.  "I  tell  him,"  said  the  lord  chancellor,  "that 
as  I  think  all  petitioners  equal,  I  know  all  peers  to  be  so." 

The  bill  sent  up  by  the  House  of  Commons,  in  1813,  for  making 
freehold  estates  liable  to  the  debts  of  a  deceased  owner,  having  been 
rejected  by  the  Lords,  another  bill  for  the  same  object  was  sent  up  by 
the  Commons  this  year,  and  came  on  to  be  discussed  by  the  Lords  on 
the  29th  of  June. 

The  lord  chancellor  (in  addition  to  the  arguments  on  this  subject,  of  which  an 
abstract  is  contained  in  the  last  chapter)f  observed  that  all  men  who  gave  credit  to 
a  land-owner  well  knew  they  had  no  remedy  against  his  land  after  his  death.  The 
law  had  always  held  real  property  more  sacred  than  personal,  and  had  provided  that 
no  transfer  of  it  should  be  made  without  certain  solemnities.  The  change  now  pro- 
posed would  mislead  creditors  by  inducing  them  to  give  credit  to  persons,  walking 
over  thousands  of  acres,  but  having  in  those  acres  only  life  interests.  It  did  not  go 
to  make  copyholds  available :  it  did  not  go  to  require  that  entails  should  be  barred  for 
the  benefit  of  creditors;  and  all  these  were  inconsistencies. 

The  bill  was  rejected  without  a  division. — The  session  gave  rise  to 
no  other  debate  which  requires  to  be  noticed  here ;  and  it  terminated 
on  the  12th  of  July,  with  a  speech  delivered  by  the  regent  himself. 

During  the  spring  of  this  year  the  prince  regent  had  been  unre- 
mittingly urgent  to  obtain  from  Lord  Eldon,  for  Mr.  Jekyll,  a  master- 

*  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  the  President  of  the  Royal  Society, 
f  Pad.  Deb.,  July  18th,  1814. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  411 

ship  in  chancery  then  vacant.  The  history  of  Mr.  Jekyll's  appoint- 
ment, made  at  last  in  June  1815,  is  as  follows, — the  first  part  of  it 
being  given  from  the  Anecdote  Book : — 

"  When  Mr.  Jekyll  was  made  by  me  a  master  in  chancery,  great 
offence  was  given  by  that  appointment  to  the  gentlemen  at  the  chan- 
cery bar ;  and  I  afterwards  found  great  inconvenience  from  an 
appointment  of  a  gentleman  who  never  had  been  out  of  a  common 
law  court,  no  future  vacancy  of  a  mastership  having  ever  taken  place 
without  applications  from  the  common  lawyers  to  be  made  masters, 
applications  before  that  time  very  unusual,  and  which  I  was  obliged 
to  resist.  The  fact  was,  that  Jekyll  was  a  great  favourite  with  every- 
body ;  he  was  the  descendant  of  an  eminent  lawyer,  Sir  Joseph  Jekyll, 
who  had  been  master  of  the  rolls ;  everybody  wished  him  to  be  well 
provided  for,  in  a  proper  mode.  Nobody  wished  that  more  than  I 
wished  it ;  but  I  hesitated  for  weeks  and  months  before  I  made  the 
appointment.  His  most  anxious  and  most  powerful  well-wisher  was 
the  prince  regent,  who  was  very  much  attached  to  him,  and  with 
whom  Jekyll  had  spent  many  convivial  hours.  He  was  a  person  of 
great  humour  and  wit,  and  indulged  himself  in  manifesting  his  wit  and 
humour  to  a  great  extent,  and,  I  believe,  without  having  ever  said  an 
ill-natured,  provoking,  or  rude  thing,  of  or  to  any  man,  whilst  he  was 
so  indulging  himself.  The  prince  regent,  after  having  applied  to  me 
repeatedly  at  Carlton  House  to  appoint  Mr.  Jekyll  the  master,  without 
effect,  and  having  often  observed  that  a  man  of  his  sense  and  abilities 
would  soon  be  able  to  learn  his  business,  (which  might  be  very  true, 
but  the  appointment  would  nevertheless  introduce  a  most  inconvenient 
host  of  candidates  from  the  common  law  bar  for  chancery  offices),  at 
length,  in  furtherance  of  his  purpose,  took  the  following  step : — He 
came  alone  to  my  door  in  Bedford  Square.  Upon  the  servants  going 
to  the  door,  the  prince  regent  observed  that,  as  the  chancellor  had 
the  gout,  he  knew  he  must  be  at  home,  and  he  therefore  desired  he 
might  be  shown  up  to  the  room  where  the  chancellor  was." 

What  followed  is  very  circumstantially  related  by  Mrs.  Forster, 
from  Lord  Eldon's  own  mouth : — 

"  My  servants  told  the  prince  I  was  much  too  ill  to  be  seen.  He, 
however,  pressed  to  be  admitted ;  and  they  very  properly  and  respect- 
fully informed  him  that  they  had  positive  orders  to  show  him  no  one. 
Upon  which  he  suddenly  asked  them  to  show  him  the  staircase,  which 
you  know  they  could  not  refuse  to  do.  They  attended  him  to  it 
and  he  immediately  ascended,  and  pointed  first  to  one  door,  then  to 
another,  asking, '  Is  that  your  master's  room?' — they  answering, '  No,' 
— until  he  came  to  the  right  one  ;  upon  which  he  opened  the  door 
and  seated  himself  by  my  bed-side.  Well,  I  was  rather  surprised  to 
see  his  royal  highness,  and  inquired  his  pleasure.  He  stated  he  had 
come  to  request  tKat  I  would  appoint  Jekyll  to  the  vacant  mastership 
in  chancery.  I  respectfully  answered  that  I  deeply  regretted  his 
royal  highness  should  ask  that,  for  I  could  not  comply.  He  inquired 
why  I  could  not,  and  I  told  him,  simply  because,  in  my  opinion,  Mr. 
Jekyll  was  totally  unqualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of  that  office. 


412  LIFE  OF  LORD 

He,  however,  repeated  his  request,  and  urged  very  strongly.  I  again 
refused  ;  and  for  a  great  length  of  time  he  continued  to  urge,  and  I 
continued  to  refuse,  saying  Mr.  Jekyll  was  unfit  for  the  office,  and  I 
would  never  agree. 

"His  highness  suddenly  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair,  exclaim- 
ing, '  How  I  do  pity  Lady  Eldon  !'  '  Good  God,'  I  said,  '  what  is  the 
matter?' — '  Oh,  nothing,'  answered  the  prince, l  except  that  she  never 
will  see  you  again:  for  here  I  remain  until  you  promise  to  make 
Jekyll  a  master  in  chancery.'  Well,  I  was  obliged  at  length  to  give 
in, — I  could  not  help  it.  Others  ought  really  to  be  very  delicate  in 
blaming  appointments  made  by  persons  in  authority,  for  there  often  are 
very  many  circumstances  totally  unknown  to  the  public.  However," 
added  Lord  Eldon,  "Jekyll  got  on  capitally.  It  was  an  unexpected 
result.  One  of  my  friends  met  him  after  he  was  appointed,  and  asked 
him  how  in  the  world  he  came  to  be  picked  out  for  that  office ;  and 
he  answered  that  he  supposed  it  was  because  he  was  the  most  unfit 
man  in  the  country.  Now  you  see  this  very  consciousness  of  his  own 
want  of  ability  led  him,  in  all  difficult  cases,  to  consult  two  or  three 
other  masters  in  chancery ;  and,  being  guided  by  twro  or  three  ex- 
perienced heads,  he  never  got  wrong. 

"  Thus,"  says  the  Anecdote  Book,  {C  he  executed  his  office  very 
reasonably  well.  I  was,  however,  as  I  expected,  tormented  with 
future  applications  for  the  office  of  master  by  the  common  lawyers. 
To  those  I  did  not  yield.  He  continued  in  office  for  a  considerable 
time,  till  indisposition  and  age  obliged  him  to  retire  upon  the  usual 
pension.  I  met  him  in  the  street  the  day  after  his  retirement;  when, 
according  to  his  usual  manner,  he  addressed  me  in  a  joke :  '  Yesterday, 
lord  chancellor,  I  was  your  master:  —  to-day  I  am  my  own  master.' ' 

The  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who,  in  the  May  of  this  year,  had  been 
married  at  New  Strelitz  to  the  Princess  Frederica,  dowager  of  the 
Prince  of  Solms  Braunfels,  was  re-married  to  her  at  Carlton  House  on 
the  29th  of  August.  The  ceremony  was  so  far  a  private  one,  that  it 
was  attended  only  by  a  few  guests  specially  invited,  in  addition  to  the 
chancellor  and  other  ministers  and  officers  of  state. 

This  was  a  year  of  great  political  events,  consequent  upon  Napo- 
leon's movement  from  Elba, — the  reign  of  the  hundred  days,  the 
battle  of  Waterloo,  the  second  restoration  of  the  French  royal  family, 
the  final  pacification  of  Europe.  All  these  are  matters  of  general 
history,  and  require  no  special  review  in  this  biography.  But  the 
disposal  of  Napoleon's  person,  after  his  surrender  to  the  British  go- 
vernment, was  an  affair  in  which,  as  involving  an  important  question 
of  international  law,  the  chancellor  of  necessity  took  a  principal  and 
peculiar  part ;  and  the  interesting  and  important  letters  subjoined, 
written  after  Napoleon's  departure  for  St.  Helena,  explain  the  princi- 
ples on  which,  after  much  anxiety  and  doubt,  Lorfi  Eldon  gave  his 
sanction  to  the  deportation  and  permanent  detention  of  the  captive. 

(Lard  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.') — (Extract.) 

(Postmark,  Sept.  16lh,  1815  ) 
"Dear  Brother, 
"  The  view  you  take  of  Bonaparte's  business  had  before  occurred  to  me,  and  I  de- 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  413 

clare  that  I  am  unable  to  dispose  of  the  difficulties  attending  it.  I  have  hitherto  felt 
them  so  strongly,  as  not  finally  to  put  the  seal  to  the  treaty  the  sovereigns  have  en- 
tered into  at  Pans :— which  doth  not  please  some  people.  But  I  suppose  that  a  bill  of 
indemnity  must  be  had  for  the  whole,  or  nearly  the  whole,  that  has  been  finally  done 
by  others.  Let  me  hear  of  you— and  God  grant  me  the  comfort  of  your  sendin-  good 
intelligence,  relating  to  yourself,  to 

"  Yours  ever  affectionately, 


(Lord  Liverpool  to  Lord  Eldon.)— (Extract.) 

,.-.,,         T  "Fife  House,  Oct.  1st,  1815. 

"  My  dear  Lord, 

"I  have  read  and  considered  your  argument  respecting  the  situation  of  Bonaparte, 
and  think  there  is  great  weight  in  it.  I  own  I  was  inclined  to  think  the  master  of  the 
rolls  view  of  the  question  correct,  that  you  had  your  choice  of  considering  him  (Bo- 
naparte) either  as  a  French  subject,  or  as  a  captain  of  freebooters  or  banditti  and 
consequently  out  of  the  pale  of  protection  of  nations.  Before  he  quitted  Elba,  he  en- 
joyed only  a  limited  and  conditional  sovereignty,  which  ceased  when  the  condition  on 
which  he  held  it  was  violated.  In  which  character,  then,  did  he  make  war  on  the  King 
of  France,  our  ally  ?  Not  as  an  independent  sovereign,  for  he  had  no  such  character: 
not  as  a  pretender  to  the  crown  of  France  in  any  admissible  sense,  for  he  had  abso- 
lutely and  entirely  renounced  all  claim  of  this  description.  He  must  then  revert 
?ither  to  his  original  character,  of  a  French  subject,  or  he  has  no  character  at  all,  and 
headed  his  expedition  as  an  outlaw  and  an  outcast;  ' Hostis  humani  generis.'  I  am 
quite  clear  that  in  whatever  way  the  subject  is  viewed,  it  will  be  desirable  to  have  an 
act  of  Parliament*  to  settle  any  doubts  which  may  arise  on  such  a  question;  bull 
trust  we  have  one  good  ground  to  found  it  upon,  if  not  two." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.}— (Extract.) 

"October  4th,  1813. 

"Your  letter  of  last  night  I  was  glad  to  receive,  because  my  mind  is  pondering 
upon  these  things.    The  result,  however,  seems  to  me  to  be  that,  in  your  judgment, 
B.  is  a  French  subject,  and  ought  to  have  been  so  treated,  by  being  delivered  up  to  his 
sovereign,  Louis  XVIII.,  and  this  includes  the  idea  of  giving  St.  Helena  to  his  sove- 
reign.    Now  the  misfortune  is,  that  I  apprehend  that  (the  state  of  things  in  France 
considered)  no  one  of  the  allies  would  have  listened  for  a  moment  to  his  being  deli- 
vered up— (to  continue  in  life)— to  that  sovereign,  either  to  remain  in  France,  or,  in 
his  custody,  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.    It  is  a  wretched  case,  therefore,  that  the 
thing  did  not  admit  of  the  only  treatment  that,m  this  way  of  putting  it,  could  be  recon- 
ciled to  the  law  of  nations.     Whether  those  sovereigns  should  have  so  determined  I 
know  not,  but  those  who  act  upon  politics  and  the  main  chance  would  never  have 
consented  to  B.'s  being  retained  in  life  in  French  custody  anywhere.    And  I  presume, 
from  all  that  has  happened,  that,  in  that  custody  he  never,  as  to  life,  would  have  met 
the  fate  of  a  traitor.    Now  here  certainly  is  a  most  questionable  matter  of  fact;  but 
supposing  the  fact  to  be  that  he  is  a  French  subject,  and  that  the  safety  of  nations  re- 
quired that  he  should  not  be  delivered  up  to  his  own  sovereign,  but  that  he  should  be 
continued  in  imprisonment  whilst  that  safety  did  so  require,  is  it  not  a  strange  thing 
that  the  law  of  nations  does  not  admit  a  case  of  exception,  but  that  you  are  to  apply 
to  such  a  case  a  rule  which,  in  the  application,  can  be  of  no  manner  of  use  ?  Whether 
this  is  imprisonment  for  life,  if  justified  by  necessity,  or  for  a  shorter  term  in  which 
necessity  would  justify  it,  makes  no  difference;  for  the  imprisonment  itself,  and  of 
course  its  duration,  could  only  be  justified  by  the  continuance  of  the  necessity;  and  I 
suppose  the  imprisonment  which  shall  be  agreed  upon,  if  any,  will  not,  upon  the  face 
of  things  at  least,  be  imprisonment  for  life.    I  take  it  to  be  a  clear  fact,  that  all  the 
allies  could  never  have  been  brought  to  agree  to  any  thing  which,  leaving  B.  in  exist- 
ence, left  his  existence  under  the  custody  of  France;  and  I  believe  it  to  be  as  clear  a 
fact,  that  no  question  could  have  been  usefully  stirred  about  him,  as  things  turned  up, 
but  where  and  how  he  should  exist.     Lord  Liverpool  informs  me  by  letter  yesterday, 
that  the  master  of  the  rolls'  view  of  the  subject  is,  that '  you  had  a  right  of  considering 
B.  either  as  a  French  subject,  or  as  a  captain  of  freebooters  or  banditti,  and  consequently 
out  of  the  pale  of  the  protection  of  nations.'    I  believe  it  will  turn  out,  that  if  you  can't 

*  Acts  were  passed  accordingly  in  the  next  session  of  Parliament:  56  Geo.  3.  c. 
22,  23. 


414  LIFE  OF  LORD 

make  this  a  casus  cxcepfionis  or  omissus  in  the  law  of  nations,  founded  upon  necessity, 
you  will  not  really  know  what  to  say  upon  it.  Salus  Reipublicae  suprema  lex,  as  to  one 
state:  Salus  omnium  Rpubl™  must  be  the  suprema  lex  as  to  this  case.  Party  I  don't 
mind  much;  posterity  not  a  great  deal;  for,  of  this  transaction,  in  all  its  particulars,  it 
will  be  as  little  informed  in  matter  of  fact  as  it  is  in  most  others; — but,  to  do  the  thing 
that  is  right,  is  really  matter  of  most  anxious  concern  with  me. 

"Yours, 

"  ELDOH." 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.}— (Extract.) 

"  Oct.  14th,  1815. 
"Dear  Brother, 

"I  dare  say  what  the  master  of  the  rolls  said  was  only  in  some  loose  conversation  ; 
and,  by  the  way,  when  men  of  his  eminence  talk,  and  sometimes  judge,  so  quickly, 
their  conduct  imposes  great  hardship  upon  such  a  dull,  slow,  plodding,  deliberating 
dog  as  I  am." 

The  succeeding  extract  is  part  of  a  letter  to  Sir  William  Scott,  of 
which  the  remainder  is  lost.  Large  allowances  must  of  course  be 
made  for  involution  and  carelessness  in  a  composition  not  meant  to 
meet  the  public  eye ;  but  the  reader,  once  lifting  himself  above  the 
haze  of  the  phraseology,  will  find  the  argument  singularly  luminous. 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Sir  William  Scott.) — (Fragment.) 

(No  date.) 
"Dear  Brother, 

"The  view  which  Lord  Ellenborough  takes  of  B.'s  business  seems  to  be  this,  as  he 
himself  indeed  expresses  it: — '  B.  has  been  in  a  state  of  war  with  MS,  jointly  waged  by 
himself  and  others,  and  severally,  also,  if  we  choose  so  to  consider  it:  war  being,  as  I 
conceive,  the  act  of  the  aggregate  body  of  the  state  and  of  all  the  individuals  com- 
posing it.  From  the  consequences  of  that  state  of  war,  he  cannot  be  redeemed,  but 
by  the  terms  of  such  treaty  of  peace,  as  we  may  make  with  him  individually,  or  with 
others  either  with  him  or  for  him.  We  may  either  include  him  in  the  aggregate  of  the 
French  nation,  and  by  so  doing  allow  him  the  benefit  of  such  terms  as  we  allow  gene- 
rally to  them, — or  we  may  specially  exclude  him,  in  which  case  the  state  of  war  will 
still  subsist  as  to  him  and  so  far  only  as  a  specific  treaty  with  him  shall  qualify  that 
state  of  war.  Being  once  an  enemy,  he  can  only  be  at  peace  with  us  by  our  act  and 
consent,  and  of  course  upon  such  terms  only  as  we  shall  mutually  agree  upon.'  He 
observes  that  he  finds  nothing  in  Vattel,  &c.,  upon  this  sort  of  case.  He  adds, '  The 
question  is  now  in  specie,  and  can  only  be  properly  decided  by  considering,  what 
rights  result  upon  principle  from  a  state  of  war,  as  against  all  the  individuals  of  the 
belligerent  nation.  Those  rights  are  seldom,  if  ever,  enforced  against  individuals; 
because  individuals  hardly  ever  make  war  but  as  part  of  an  aggregate  mass.  But  I 
think  the  case  of  B.  is  sufficiently  distinguished  from  all  other  cases  to  warrant  the 
application  of  a  more  rigorous  principle,  if  the  principle  be  in  itself  a  correct  and  just 
one.' 

"This  reasoning  treats  B.  as  an  individual  of  the  French  nation,  at  war  with  us — 
that  individual  an  enemy  to  us  (in  common  with  the  nation,)  whom  we  may,  upon 
general  principle,  exclude  from  the  benefit  of  a  treaty  of  peace  when  we  make  it  with 
the  nation,  continuing  him,  as  far  as  we  think  fit  so  to  do,  an  individual  enemy : — and 
that  individual  to  be  considered  also  as  in  a  more  especial  manner  at  war  with  us 
than  individuals  of  belligerent  nations  usually  are.  This  seems  the  result  of  what  he 
says. 

"In  your  letter,  *  *  *  *  after  stating  (what  I  take  not 

to  be  quite  correct,)  that  we  accepted  his  (Bonaparte's)  surrender,  not  telling  him  that 
•we  did  not  accept  it  on  his  own  terms — (because  I  take  the  fact  to  be  that  he  was  ex- 
pressly told,  that,  though  he  was  received  on  board,  he  must  be  disposed  of  in  any 
way  this  government  thought  proper,  and  if  so  the  question  will  then  be  whether  this 
government  can  properly  think  that  it  will  imprisdn  him  for  life,)— you  proceed  to 
say  that  we  had  a  right  to  give  him  up  to  his  own  government,  (I  suppose  by  that  you 
mean  France,)  if  he  was  made  to  understand  so  before  his  surrender.  If  it  be  true 
that  he  was  expressly  told  before  his  surrender  that  he  was  to  be  disposed  of  as  this 
government  thought  proper,  I  apprehend  in  that  case  he  must  be  considered  as  having 
been  told,  that  if  this  government  thought  proper  to  deliver  him  up  to  France  as  his 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  415 

own  government,  he  might  be  so  delivered  up — because  the  reserved  right  of  dispos- 
ing of  him  as  thin  government  thought  Jit  includes  a  right  of  so  disposing  of  him. 

"  I  am  aware  there  is  controversy  about  the  fact,  what  he  was  told,  but  I  go  upon  the 
official  report  of  our  officer. 

"You  then  ask,  if  we  reserved  this  right,  have  we  exercised  it?  Can  we,  under 
that  reservation,  shut  him  up  for  life?  Are  we  capacitated  so  to  do,  to  whom  he  is  no 
subject — to  whom  he  is  amenable  only  as  &  prisoner  of  war,  if  he  is  in  fact  accepted  as 
such?  To  us,  you  observe,  he  can  be  no  more.  His  being  a  rebel  to  his  native  sove- 
reign can  give  us  no  positive  or  active  right  over  him.  His  breach  of  treaties  can't 
be  alleged  against  him,  if  we  contend  that  he  is  a  subject  of  France — for  that  he  is  an- 
swerable to  France  only.  His  sovereign,  and  not  himself,  is  answerable  to  foreign 
governments,  you  say,  for  breaches  of  treaties  committed  by  a  subject. 

"You  then  state  what  you  understand  Lord  E.'s  notion  to  be.  I  have  given  it  you 
in  his  own  words.  And  you  then  ask,  has  our  government  done,  what  he  (Lord 
Ellenborough)  supposes  may  be  done,  by  any  declaration  to  that  effect  ?  Can  it  do  it 
otherwise  than  by  public  and  formal  notice?  If  it  could,  this  must  be  by  the  internal 
constitution  of  this  kingdom,  as  you  conceive,  taking  it  to  be  the  clear  general  rule  of 
the  law  of  nations,  that  peace  with  the  sovereign  of  a  state  is  peace  with  all  its  sub- 
jects. Subjects  cannot  be  at  war,  you  say,  and  the  sovereign  at  peace;  they  may  be 
in  rebellion,  you  add,  and  an  ally  may  assist  in  subduing  them,  but  they  are  not  in 
legitimate  foreign  war. 

"I  repeat  all  that  Lord  E.  and  you  have  said,  because  otherwise  I  have  no  chance 
of  making  observations  intelligible.  I  add,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  bills  of  indem- 
nity, though  they  may  protect  us,  can't  settle  this  question  of  national  justice,  and  that 
imprisoning  B.  for  life  by  act  of  Parliament  is  not  like  so  imprisoning  a  subject  of  our 
own:  you,  as  well  as  Lord  E.,  treat  him  as  a  sultfect  of  France,  or  at  least  you  state 
your  doctrine,  with  respect  to  him,  to  be  such  as  you  state  it,  if  he  is  to  be  considered, 
or  if  we  contend  him  to  be,  a  subject  of  France,  or  a  rebel  to  his  sovereign  as  such. 
And  indeed  all  that  has  been  said  about  a  king  by  treaty,  and  a  pan  of  his  subjects, 
being  at  peace,  and  others  of  them,  or  some  individuals  of  them,  being  excluded  the 
benefit  of  that  treaty — about  peace  with  the  sovereign  being  peace  with  all  its  subjects 
by  the  law  of  nations — about  the  doctrine  that  subjects  can't  be  at  war,  if  the  sovereign 
is  at  peace — that  the  subject  may  be  in  rebellion  but  not  in  foreign  legitimate  war — 
does  not  apply  to  the  case  of  Bonaparte,  or  at  least  does  not  surround  that  case,  unless 
Bonaparte  is  a  subject  of  France  and  we  are  at  war  with  France,  or  Bonaparte  is  a  sub- 
ject of  France,  a  French  rebel,  against  whom  we  are  assisting  his  sovereign  as  his  allies. 
And  quaere,  whether  these  views  of  the  case  surround  the  whole  circumstances  of  it? 
"We  either  are  at  war  with  France,  or  we  are  not  at  war  with  France.  If  we  are 
at  war  with  France,  it  rather  strikes  me,  that,  as  yet,  we  have  done  nothing  of  a  dubious 
character,  if  my  notions  as  to  matter  of  fact  be  accurate,  taking  B.  to  be  a  subject  of 
France.  If  we  are  not  at  war  with  France,  and  B.  is  a  subject  of  France  and  a  rebel, 
and  we  are  assisting  F.rance  as  her  ally  against  the  rebel,  I  think,  rather  think,  that 
nothing  has  yet  been  d'one  of  a  dubious  character,  if  my  notions  of  matter  of  fact  are 
accurate. 

"  Parliament  has  passed  acts,  in  which  it  has  already  recognized  that  we  are  at  war; 
but  I  should  rather  say  at  war  with  Bonaparte  and  his  adherents  than  with  France. 
In  what  character  at  war  with  him  and  his  adherents, — whether  with  him  as  a  subject 
of  France,  and  especially  as  he  was  himself  a  sovereign  de  facto  when  that  war,  so 
acknowledged  by  Parliament,  begun, — Parliament  has  left  in  a  very  doubtful  and  am- 
biguous state.  But  that  war  (whatever  be  its  character  as  to  B.,)  which  Parliament 
has  declared  to  exist,  has  been  yet  put  an  end  to  by  no  treat//  whatever.  No  question, 
therefore,  seems  to  me  to  arise  out  of  any  fact  which  has  yet  taken  place,  as  to  the 
right  to  exclude  him  from  a  state  of  peace  by  any  treaty  with  his  sovereign  or  his 
government,  supposing  him  to  be  a  subject  or  a  rebel :  and  if  he  is  neither,  still  no 
treaty,  restoring  him  to  a  state  of  peace,  is  made.  Upon  the  present  state  of  circum- 
stances, then,  is  not  the  present  questioh  this, — Whether,  if  we  have  a  right  to  treat 
him  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  as  we  have  to  treat  any  person  taken  at  Waterloo  or  sur- 
rendering there  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  it  can  possibly  be  inconsistent  with  justice  or 
the  law  of  nations,  that,  till  some  peace  is  made  by  treaty  with  some  person  considered 
as  his  sovereign,  or  till  some  peace  is  made  with  him,  we  keep  him  imprisoned  in 
some  part  of  our  king's  dominions?  I  presume,  if  we  can  keep  him  as  a  prisoner  of 
war  for  a  moment,  we  can  keep  him  until  some  peace  is  made  with  him,  or  includin 
him.  None  is  made  with  him,  if  any  is  to  be  made  with  him.  If  he  has  a  sovereign 
and  belongs  to  a  government,— to  France  and  the  King  of  France,— we  have  been 


416  LIFE  OF  LORD 

assisting  France  as  her  ally,  in  that  view  of  the  case,  against  a  rebel,  and  France  is 
in  a  state  continuing  to  receive  that  assistance  from  us.  The  law  officers,  king's 
advocate,  attorney  and  solicitor,  have  considered  him  as  a  prisoner  of  war, — on  what 
grounds  I  know  not, — but  the  ground  of  fact  which  I  proceed  upon  is,  that  the  official 
report  of  the  officer  to  whom  he  surrendered,  though  the  fact  will  be  loudly  and  bit- 
terly disputed,  is  the  document  to  prove  the  terms  upon  which  he  surrendered, — and 
taking  that  to  be  so,  he  surrendered  to  be  disposed  of  as  this  government  should  think 
proper  to  deal  with  him — to  be  disposed  of,  therefore,  as  this  government  should  think 
proper,  if  it  thought  proper  to  treat  him  as  a  prisoner  of  war  until  a  peace  was  made 
with  him  or  including  him,— and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  if  it  thought  proper  to  determine, 
that  until  such  time,  he  should  be  continued  a  prisoner  of  war,  unless  by  the  joint 
compact  of  all  the  allies  he  should  be  sooner  released,— it  had  a  right  so  to  determine. 

"It  is  certainly  a  different  question,  if  a  peace  shall  be  made  with  any  sovereign 
whose  subject  he  can  be  said  to  be, — whether  by  compact,  notified  or  not  notified,  he 
can  be  excluded  from  the  benefit  of  that  peace.  If  we  have  been  at  war  with  France 
and  he  is  a  subject  of  France,  whether  he  can  be  excluded  if  we  make  peace  with 
France  ?  If  we  have  not  been  at  war  with  France,  (and  have  we  been  at  war  with 
France?  I  doubt  it),  then  whether  we,  by  treaty  with  France,  can  maintain  that  WE 
can  consistently  with  the  law  of  nations  treat  him,  when  France  can  no  longer  crave 
our  aid  against  him  as  a  rebel,  considered  by  her  as  her  subject,  confine  him  for  life  ? — 
we  and  the  allies  can  confine  him  so? — for  it's  right  to  notice  that  the  question  is  not 
whether  France,  (supposing  the  king's  government  in  France  unsafe,  unless  this  fel- 
low is  in  imprisonment,)  shall  take  upon  itself  to  punish  and  imprison  him — but 
whether  we  and  the  allies  shall  take  upon  ourselves  and  them  so  to  imprison  him? 

"  But  is  there  not  a  further  question  in  this  case,  viz.,  whether  adverting  to  the  real 
nature  of  this  case,  Bonaparte  is  to  be  considered,  with  reference  to  this  great  point  of 
his  imprisonment  after  peace  as  a  subject  of  France, — an  enemy  during  war,  suppos- 
ing we  have  been  at  war  with  France, — or  as  a  subject  of  France,  a  rebel,  supposing 
we  have  not  been  at  war  with  France,  but  have  been  assisting  France  as  an  ally — 
and  whether,  in  fact  and  in  truth,  there  does  not  result  some  particular  and  especial 
consideration  to  be  attended  to,  from  the  fact  that  the  war  has  been  against  Bonaparte 
and  his  adherents,  and  not  against  France  generally,  by  G.  B.;  and  the  allies  carefully 
avoiding  to  pledge  themselves  as  allies  to  the  Bourbons,  but  professing,  whatever 
their  wishes  might  be,  to  leave  France  to  choose  its  own  government,  though  deter- 
mined to  destroy  the  attempts  of  Bonaparte  (who  had  abdicated  the  government  of 
France,  and  become  emperor  of  another  dominion)  to  resume  by  force  that  of  France  1 
Has  there  been  war  with  France  as  FRANCE!  I  think  not.  We  have,  moreover,  never 
professed  to  be  the  allies  of  the  Bourbons  in  this  war.  We  have  carefully  avoided  that. 
We  have  not  been  interposing  to  assist  France  as  an  ally  against  a  rebel.  But  what 
we  have  been  doing,  ex  professo,  be  it  right  or  wrong,  has  been  (and  Parliament  has 
sanctioned  it  over  and  over  again) — has  been  by  force  to  compel  France,  whatever 
government  she  might  think  proper  to  choose,  not  to  have  Bonaparte's  government. 
Not  denying  the  general  right  of  France  to  choose  her  own  governors,  we  have  acted 
upon  the  notion  that  such  has  been  the  conduct  of  Bonaparte,  that  we  are  justified  by 
the  law  of  nations  in  using  force  to  prevent  his  being  the  governor  of  France — that,  to 
defeat  his  attempt  to  become  such,  we  have  made  war  upon  him  and  his  adherents — 
not  as  French  enemies — not  as  French  rebels — but  as  enemies  to  us  and  the  allies  when 
France  was  no  enemy  to  us — that  in  this  war  with  him,  he  has  become  a  prisoner  of  war, 
with  whom  we  can  make  no  peace,  because  we  can  have  no  safety  but  in  his  imprison- 
ment— no  peace  with  him,  or  which  includes  him.  Is  he  a  subject  of  France?  When, 
in  1814,  he,  by  formal  treaty,  abdicated  the  government  of  France  and  became  Empe- 
ror of  Elba,  as  Emperor  of  Elba  to  receive  from  France  a  large  annual  sum  by  treaty, 
to  which  France  became,  in  a  sense,  a  party,  did  he  thenceforth  remain  a  subject  of 
France?  did  he  thenceforth  own  any  allegiance  to  Louis  XVIII.?  I  incline  to  think 
he  did  not.  We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  delivering  him  up  to  his  king,  to  the 
government  of  which  he  was  a  subject,  to*  be  tried.  But  is  it  not  matter  of  well- 
founded  doubt  whether  he  could  be  tried  as  a  rebel?  He  made  no  treaty  with  France 
as  its  subject:  the  treaty  he  made,  and  the  treaty  accepted  from  him,  was  a  treaty 
made  by  him,  and  accepted  from  him,  as  an  abdicating  sovereign  of  France.  Did  his 
abdication  of  the  sovereignty,  by  the  treaty  or  treaties  he  made,  restore  or  remit  him 
to  his  character  of  subject  to  France,  when  the  very  same  treaty  clothes  him  with  the 
character  of  Emperor  of  Elba,  with  imperial  dignity  and  imperial  revenues?  Have 
the  allies  ever,  in  any  document  since  his  attempt  to  gain  the  sovereignty  of  France, 
treated  him  as  a  subject  of  France,  or  as  a  rebel  to  France,  or  done  any  act  of  the 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  417 

character  of  an  act  of  an  ally  of  Louis  XVIII.  struggling  against  a  rebel  1  They  have 
indeed  considered  him  as  out  of  the  pale  of  the  law  of  nations,  as  the  Hostis  humanl 
generis,  as  an  outlaw  (without  knowing  very  well  what  they  mean  by  that  word,)  as 
a  robber  and  freebooter,  who  might  be  put  out  of  the  world ;  but  they  have  never 
formally  pledged  themselves  even  to  support  Louis  XVIII.  as  king  of  France,  or  as 
Bonaparte's  king.  Vattel  certainly  has  passages  (here*  I  can't  refer  to  them)  in 
which  he  considers,  very  much  in  the  same  way  as  the  allies  did,  a  fellow  whom  no 
treaty  could  bind,  and  who  respects  none  that  he  enters  into.  If  Bonaparte  can  be 
separated  from  France,  and  can  be  considered  neither  as  a  subject  of  France  nor  a 
French  rebel,  then  he  has  been  subdued  in  legitimate  war  against  him — and  if  so,  I 
presume  that  we  have  a  right  to  consider  him  as  and  to  treat  him  as  a  prisoner  of 
war  (if  we  have  not  dealt  with  him  on  other  terms)  as  long  as  we  please,  if  we  do 
not  please  so  to  consider  him  (after  we  have  subdued  him)  longer  than  necessity 
(contemplating  the  dangers  of  letting  him  loose)  will  justify. 

"  But,  if  he  is  a  subject  of  France  and  a  rebel  to  the  French  king,  and  we  are 
assisting  the  French  king  against  that  rebel,  and  admitting  the  general  rules  of  the 
law  of  nations  to  be  such  as  you  state,  is  there  no  exception  in  the  nature  of  things'? 
This  exception,  to  be  sure,  must  not  be  founded  upon  pretence — false  pretence,  or 
light  pretence — but  upon  such  a  view  (of  things  as  they  actually  exist)  as  is  just, 
conformable  to  right." 

The  sequel  is  wanting.  The  loss  of  it  is,  however,  the  less  to  be 
regretted,  because  the  argument  for  the  detention  of  the  prisoner  of 
war  as  an  independent  belligerent  seems  quite  conclusive  upon  gene- 
ral principle,  without  recurring  to  the  extreme  resource,  indicated  in 
the  last  paragraph,  of  a  special  exception.  There  can  be  no  more 
remarkable  evidence  of  Lord  Eldon's  extraordinary  powers,  than  that 
he  should  have  been  able,  out  of  a  mass  of  perplexities  which  had 
baffled  such  men  as  Lord  Ellenborough,  Sir  William  Grant,  and  Sir 
William  Scott,  thus  to  deduce  a  solid,  comprehensive  and  conclusive 
judgment  of  his  own — reconciling  the  multifarious  and  wide-spread 
difficulties  of  the  law  of  nations,  and  setting  the  sanction  of  justice  to 
the  tranquillity  of  the  world. 

*  Probably  written  from  Encombe. 


VOL.  i.— 27 


418  LIFE  OF  LORD 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
1816. 

Debate  on  detention  of  Bonaparte. — Letter  from  the  Queen. — Debates:  revision  of 
statute-law:  Alien  Bill:  Catholic  question. — Royal  marriages:  anecdote  of  Lord 
Ellenborough:  forms  observed  on  marriages  of  princesses  of  blood-royal. — Letter 
from  Lord  Ellenborough  to  Lord  Eldon. — Letter  of  Lord  Eldon  on  the  essentials  of 
education  for  his  grandson. 

THE  parliamentary  session  of  1816  was  opened  on  the  1st  of  Febru- 
ary, when,  in  consequence  of  the  regent's  indisposition,  his  speech 
was  read  by  the  lord  chancellor. 

On  the  8th  of  April  a  debate  arose  upon  the  bill  (56  Geo.  3.  c.  22) 
for  the  detention  of  Bonaparte. 

Lord  Holland  proposed  to  ask  the  opinion  of  the  judges  upon  several  points  rela- 
ting to  the  character  in  which  that  person  stood  and  the  right  of  detaining  him  as  a 
prisoner. 

Lord  Lauderdale  supported  the  proposal,  ridiculing  the  notion  which  he  imputed  to 
the  ministers,  that  "  there  was  something  preternatural  in  the  influence  of  this  man," 
and  making  light  of  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  him. 

(There  appears  to  have  been  some  reference  in  the  debate  to  the 
principles  of  the  Whig  ministry,  by  whom  the  country  was  governed 
in  the  year  1806.) 

The  lord  chancellor  said  he  would  not  argue  about  the  mischief  to  be  apprehended 
from  Bonaparte,  or  the  wisdom  of  the  year  1806,  though  he  might  perhaps  think  that 
that  year  had  been  nearly  as  mischievous  to  this  country  as  Bonaparte  himself;  but 
he  would  say  that  there  was  no  good  reason  for  consulting  the  judges,  because,  what- 
ever were  their  answers,  he  should  equally  regard  this  bill  as  necessary. 

The  confidence  of  her  majesty  in  the  chancellor  continued  unabated. 

(Queen  Charlotte  to  Lord  Eldon.} 

"Queen's  House,  May  21st,  1816. 

"The  queen  is  very  sorry  that  her  visit  to  Windsor  prevented  her  acknowledging 
the  receipt  of  the  lord  chancellor's  letter  until  this  morning.  The  queen  agrees  with 
the  lord  chancellor,  that  Mr.  Serjeant  Vaughan  should  succeed  Mr.  Hardinge  as  her 
attorney-general,  and  leaves  the  filling  up  the  office  of  solicitor-general  to  the  choice 
of  the  lord  chancellor,  who  has  at  all  times  been  so  obliging  as  to  settle  it  for  her:  and 
on  this,  as  well  as  on  many  other  occasions  she  has  experienced,  she  has  ever  found 
it  both  a  pleasure  and  a  satisfaction  to  abide  by  his  decision. 

"  Whenever  the  lord  chancellor  has  settled  it  to  his  mind,  the  Lord  Morton  shall 
have  the  queen's  orders  to  present  both  gentlemen. 

"  CHARLOTTE." 

Lord  Stanhope,  on  the  3d  of  May,  had  moved  that  the  House  of 
Lords  should  resolve  itself  into  committee,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering the  best  means  of  arranging  the  statute  law. 

The  lord  chancellor,  though  he  did  not  anticipate  from  such  a  revision  all  the  bene- 
fits -which  Lord  Stanhope  thought  it  might  lead  to,  yet  was  of  opinion  that  some  good 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  419 

might  be  done,  and  moved,  as  an  amendment,  that  the  matter  should  be  referred  to  a 
select  committee. 

It  is  hence  apparent,  that  Lord  Eldon,  with  all  his  caution  on  the 
subject  of  legal  reform,  was  friendly  to  the  great  principle  of  consoli- 
dation, at  least  as  far  as  the  statute  law  was  concerned.  He  after- 
wards caused  that  principle  to  be  practically  applied  in  the  instance 
of  the  statutes  relating  to  bankruptcy,  which,  under  his  auspices, 
were  consolidated  by  the  Honourable  R.  H.  Eden,  afterwards  Lord 
Henley,  into  one  act,  the  6th  Geo.  4.  chap.  16. 

The  Alien  Bill  (56  Geo.  3.  c.  86)  provoked  some  debate  on  the 
llth  and  18th  of  June.  On  both  occasions, 

The  chancellor  justified  the  measure,  deeming  it  his  duty,  he  said,  to  state  his  de- 
cided opinion,  that  the  crown  had,  at  common  law,  the  prerogative  of  sending  aliens 
out  of  the  country,  and  that  this  bill  was  only  necessary  in  order  to  give  the  proper 
facilities  for  the  exercise  of  that  prerogative. 

The  Catholic  question  was  brought  before  the  House  of  Lords  on 
the  21st,  by  a  motion  of  Lord  Donoughmore,  that  their  lordships 
would  pass  a  resolution  to  take  the  disabling  statutes  into  their  con- 
sideration early  in  the  next  session. 

Lord  Eldon  expressed  his  opinion,  that  it  would  be  dangerous  and  inexpedient  to 
give  any  pledge  upon  a  subject  so  important,  especially  as  every  thing  that  was 
necessary  could  be  done  without  any  pledge  at  all.  He  would  not  then  enter  into  the 
general  merits  of  the  question,  but  he  was  at  a  loss  to  understand  how  it  happened, 
year  after  year,  that  this  great  subject  was  never  brought  forward  till  near  the  close 
of  the  session,  when,  according  to  the  very  advocates  of  the  relief,  it  was  too  late  to 
take  any  steps  in  the  matter. 

On  a  division,  the  resolution  was  negatived  by  only  73  against  69. 

The  session  was  closed  on  the  2d  of  July,  by  the  prince  regent  in 
person.  Before  the  prorogation,  the  government  had  obtained  an 
invaluable  reinforcement,  in  the  return  of  Mr.  Canning  to  the  cabinet. 
He  joined  their  councils  in  the  month  of  June,  succeeding  Lord 
Buckinghamshire  as  President  of  the  Board  of  Control. 

The  lord  chancellor  was  present  with  the  other  members  of  the 
cabinet  at  the  celebration  of  the  Princess  Charlotte's  marriage  with 
Prince  Leopold,  on  the  2d  of  May.  The  ceremony  was  performed  at 
Carlton  House,  between  nine  and  ten  in  the  evening. 

Another  royal  wedding,  attended  by  the  chancellor,  that  of  the 
Princess  Mary  with  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  which  took  place  on  the 
evening  of  the  22d  of  July,  is  noted  in  the  Anecdote  Book,  with  the 
following  circumstances  :  — 

"Whilst  the  ceremony  was  proceeding,  some  persons  in  the  room, 
which  was  extremely  crowded,  holding  conversation  together,  which 
was  so  loud  as  to  be  disturbing,  Lord  Ellenborough,  chief  justice,— 
perhaps  also  forgetting,  as  well  as  those  noisy  talkers,  where  he  was, 
—  rather  disturbed  the  ceremony,  by  stating  very  audibly,  '  Do  not 
make  a  noise  in  that  corner  of  the  room,—  if  you  do,  you  shall  be 
married  yourselves!"' 

Lord  Eldon  gives  further  particulars  of  this  wedding,  in  a  letter  t< 
his  daughter  Frances  :- 


"  Mamma  (Lady  Eldon)  went  through  her  part  of  the  wedding  ceremony  capitally 


420  LIFE  OF  LORD 

well;  but  dear  Princess  Mary's  behaviour  was  so  interesting  and  affecting,  that  every 
body  was  affected.  Even  the  tears  trickled  down  my  cheeks ;  and,  as  to  mamma,  she 
cried  all  night,  and  nine-tenth  parts  of  the  next  day,  so  that,  do  you  see,  your  wedding 
is  a  mighty  merry  affair. 

******* 

"  After  I  left  court  yesterday,  mamma  and  I  called  upon  the  queen,  upon  the  Duke 
and  Duchess  of  Gloucester,  and  Princess  Sophia  of  Gloucester.  True  politeness  is 
our  own  !"* 

Lord  Eldon  used  to  relate,  that  Queen  Charlotte  accused  him  of 
"flirting  with  her  daughter  Mary;"  but  that  he  assured  her  majesty, 
that  she  need  not  be  alarmed,  that  he  was  neither  a  king,  nor  a  prince, 
nor  an  emperor;  and,  moreover,  that  he  had  a  wife  already. 

The  wish  of  retirement,  which  the  chancellor  had  for  some  time 
cherished,  appears  to  have  been  increased  by  an  illness  which  befell 
him  at  Encombe,  in  the  latter  part  of  September.  It  was  an  attack 
of  spasms  in  the  stomach,  threatening  inflammation,  and  giving  great 
alarm  to  his  family.  He  was  treated,  however,  with  skill  and  suc- 
cess by  the  late  Mr.  Staines  of  Wareham,  and  in  little  more  than 
three  weeks,  was  completely  restored  to  health.  While  his  recovery 
was  in  progress,  his  growing  disposition  to  secede  was  thus  combated 
by  Lord  Ellenborough : — 

(Lord  Ellenborough  to  Lord  Eldon.} — (Extract.) 

"  Roehampton,  Oct.  12th,  181 G. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  eagerly  seize  the  hope  of  your  lordship's  early  convalescence,  which  was  excited 
in  my  mind  by  your  lordship's  letter  received  yesterday;  though  you  express  yourself 
less  sanguinely  on  the  subject  than  I  could  have  wished.  The  languor  of  retiring  dis- 
ease is  often  as  painfully  distressing  as  the  malady  itself,  in  its  utmost  violence,  had 
been.  Allow  yourself,  my  dear  lord,  to  think  at  present  of  nothing  but  the  business  of 
recovery — and  only  of  any  other  business,  when  that  is  accomplished.  I  only  venture, 
with  great  earnestness  and  sincerity,  but  with  great  humility  also,  to  deprecate  any 
resolutions  you  may  be  disposed  to  form  at  the  present  moment.  When  you  shall 
have  recovered  the  tone  of  your  nerves  and  spirits  (which  I  hope  to  God  you  soon 
will),  then  look  round  you,  and,  having  weighed  all  circumstances,  both  as  they 
respect  the  public  and  yourself,  decide  upon  the  measure  which  it  may  be  most  wise 
and  expedient  to  adopt.  We  all  owe  our  utmost  usefulness  to  our  country :  your 
lordship  has  means  of  usefulness,  which  no  other  person  possesses  in  an  equal  degree. 
It  might  look  like  flattery  if  I  went  into  particulars  on  this  subject;  but,  in  a  word, 
the  law  and  the  state  peremptorily  forbid  you  to  retire  (and  most  especially  the  latter), 
at  the  present  moment.  This  is  not,  I  assure  your  lordship,  the  language  of  a  mere 
partial  friend,  but  it  is  the  sentiment,  I  believe,  of  all  Westminster  Hall  (which  can 
afford  to  endure  no  more  losses  than  it  has  within  a  short  period  sustained) — it  is  the 
language  and  feeling  of  your  colleagues  in  government,  and  would  be  that  of  the 

*  Among  Lord  Eldon's  papers  is  the  following  memorandum  of  the 
Forms  usually  observed  on  the  marriage  of  any  of  the  princesses  of  the  blood-royal,  since 
the  passing  of  the  Marriage  Act. 

1.  Letter  from  the  intended  bridegroom  soliciting  the  sovereign's  consent. 

2.  The  answer  of  approval  thereto  from  the  sovereign. 

3.  Draft  of  commission,  authorizing  the  persons  therein  named  to  treat  of  and  con- 
cerning the  marriage  contract,  or  settlements. 

4.  Order  in  council,  approving  of  the  said  draft,  and  giving  directions  to  one  of  H. 
M.  secretaries  of  state  to  prepare  the  same  for  passing  the  great  seal. 

5.  Warrant  for  affixing  the  great  seal  to  the  commission. 

6.  Instrument  of  royal  consent  to  the  marriage. 

7.  Warrant  for  affixing  the  great  seal  thereto. 

8.  Declaration  in  council  of  the  royal  consent. 

9.  Order  in  council  to  enter  the  same  in  the  books  of  the  privy  council. 


CHANCELLOR  ELDON.  421 

best  informed  and  disposed  members  of  the  community  at  large,  if  they  were  con- 
sulted upon  the  subject.  I  am  afraid  your  lordship  will  think  I  have  trespassed  upon 
you  too  long  on  this  topic — but  it  is  too  painfully  near  my  heart.  Si  tu  deseris,  nos 
periimus."* 

The  young  heir  of  Lord  Eldon's  honours  was  now  eleven  years 
old,  and  his  education  became  a  subject  of  increasing  interest  with 
his  grandfather.  The  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Farrer  shows  the  chan- 
cellor's habitual  preference  of  the  solid  to  the  showy,  and  of  moral 
excellence  to  mere  intellectual  distinction: — 

(Lord  Eldon  to  Mrs.  Ferrer.)— (Extract.) 

(Not  dated  ;  but  written  18th  or  19th  of  Jan.  1817.) 

..."  I  have,  and  can  have,  no  object  with  respect  to  dear  John,  save  to  have  him 
educated  with  all  the  feelings  which,  if  he  was  my  son,  I  should  wish  him  to  be  actu- 
ated by,  as,  unquestionably,  on  the  other  hand,  I  regard  him  with  all  the  affection  of 
a  father.  With  a  just  anxiety  for  his  advancement  in  learning,  as  to  which,  indeed, 
my  estimate  of  his  talents,  founded  upon  attentive  observation,  leaves  me  little  reason 
to  think  will  be  other  than  very  considerable,  I  feel  an  extreme  anxiety  that  his  heart 
should  be  as  well  cultivated  as  his  mind,  and  that  he  should  be,  as  I  have  also  great 
reason  to  hope  that  he  will  be,  distinguished  by  all  those  qualities  which  constitute  a 
good  and  excellent  man. 

"  E." 

*  "  Si  deseris  tu,  periimus." — TIB.  Adelph.  act.  3,  sc.  5, 1.  12. 


END    VOL.    I. 


THE  WORKS 


OF 


LORD     BACON. 

WITH  A  MEMOIR  AND   TRANSLATION  OF   HIS  LATIN 

WRITINGS, 

BY  BASIL  MONTAGU,  ESQ. 

In  three  vols.  8vo. 


NOTICE  OF  LORD  BACON  BY  LORD  BROUGHAM. 

As  in  a  great  army  there  are  some  whose  office  it  is  to  construct  bridges,  to  cut  paths  along  moun- 
tains, and  to  remove  various  impediments,  so  Lord  Bacon  may  be  said  to  have  cleared  the  way  to 
knowledge;  to  have  marked  out  the  road  to  truth;  and  to  have  left  future  travellers  little  else  to  do 
than  to  follow  his  instructions:  he  was  the  miner  and  sapper  of  philosophy,  the  pioneer  of  nature; 
and  he  eminently  promoted  the  dominion  of  man  over  the  material  world.  He  was  the  priest  of  na- 
ture's mysteries ;  and  he  taught  men  in  what  manner  they  might  discover  her  profound  eel  secrets, 
and  interpret  those  laws  which  nature  has  received  from  the  great  Author  of  all.— As  the  returning 
light  appears  more  glorious  after  the  sun  has  been  eclipsed,  and  the  order  and  beauty  of  nature  would 
look  doubly  striking  to  an  eye  that  had  seen  that  chaos  from  which  she  first  arose,  when  all  was 
without  form  and  void— so,  if  we  glance,  but  fora  moment,  at  that  darkness  which  so  long  oversha- 
dowed the  human  mind,  and  gave  birth  to  so  many  phantoms  and  prodigies,  under  the  name  of  sci- 
ence, this  retrospect  will  serve  to  ahow  more  clearly  the  merits  of  a  philosopher,  who  may  be  regarded 
as  the  morning  star  of  that  illustrious  day  which  has  since  broken  out  upon  mankind  ;  and  in  the 
spirit  of  whose  method  even  the  immortal  Newton  himself  explored  the  heavens;  by  the  aid  of  a  sub- 
lime geometry,  as  with  the  rod  of  an  enchanter,  dashed  in  pieces  all  the  cycles,  epicycles,  and  crys- 
tal orb  of  a  visionary  antiquity,  and  established  the  true  Copernican  doctrine  of  astronomy  on  the 
solid  basis  of  a  most  rigid  and  infallible  demonstration.  It  was  reserved  for  Francis  Bacon,  Lord  Veru- 
lam,  to  break  the  spell  of  the  mighty  enchanter  of  Stagira,  and  to  give  a  final  blow  to  the  scholastic 
philosophy;— to  make  one  grand  attempt  to  deliver  men's  minds  from  the  bondage  of  two  thousand 
years; — to  assert  the  right  of  that  reason  with  which  the  beneficent  Creator  has  endowed  man,  as 
above  all  authority  merely  human;— and  to  sketch  the  outline  of  one  grand  and  comprehensive  plan, 
that  should  include  in  it  the  endless  varieties  of  our  knowledge,  and  guide  our  inquiries  in  every 
branch. 

His  qualifications  for  this  bold  attempt  to  clear  the  barren  wastes  of  science,  and  to  sow  the  seeds 
of  a  new  creation  of  useful  knowledge,  will  be  best  seen  by  studying  his  doctrines. 

The  study  of  Bacon's  Philosophical  Works  in  general,  and  especially  of  the  Nowm  Organum, 
cannot  fail  to  be  beneficial  to  all  persons  who  are  entering  on  scientific  pursuits,  and  to  all  who  are 
engaged  in  inquiries  after  truth  of  whatever  kind.  Their  general  tendency  will  be,  if  we  do  not 
greatly  err,  to  inspire  a  habit  of  close  and  patient  thinking— an  intellectual  independence  which  re- 
sists all  that  is  merely  of  the  nature  of  hypothesis,  while  it  bows  with  implicit  deference  to  the  autho- 
rity of  fact  and  experience.  The  nature  of  the  different  kinds  of  evidence;  the  different  subjects  to 
which  they  are  properly  applicable;  the  degree  of  that  sort  of  evidence  that  is  called  moral  which 
it  is  reasonable  to  expect  in  any  given  case;  the  proper  limits  both  of  doubt  and  of  belief;  the  whole 
order  of  circumstances  of  whatever  kind  that  may  have  any  bearing  on  the  impression  which  evi- 
dence may  make,  or  may  fail  to  make,  on  the  mind ;  these  very  interesting  topics  of  inquiry,  as  well 
as  every  other  subject  relating  to  moral  and  intellectual  philosophy,  are  not  less  properly  and  strictly 
within  the  sphere  of  the  operation  of  the  Baconian  method,  than  the  more  tangible  properties  of  mat- 
ter itself,  and  the  laws  of  the  material  universe  in  general.  The  spirit  of  the  inductive  philosophy 
is  in  perfect  unison  with  man's  intellectual  nature;  it  offers  a  true  corroborative  to  hi*  faculties  in 
his  pursuit  of  truth;  and  the  more  completely  this  spirit  is  imbibed,  the  more  shall  we  be  guarded 
from  the  extremes  of  credulity  on  the  one  hand,  and  incredulity  on  the  other. 

We  may  safely  affirm,  that,  by  giving  the  Inductive  Philosophy  to  the  world,  Lord  Bacon  has 
proved  one  of  its  most  signal  benefactors;  and  has  largely  done  his  part  towards  promoting  the  final 
triumph  of  all  truth,  whether  natural,  or  moral  and  intellectual,  over  all  error;  and  towards  bringing 
on  that  glorious  crisis,  destined,  we  doubt  not,  one  day  to  arrive,  when,  according  to  the  allegorical 
representation  of  that  great  poet,  who  was  not  only  the  admirer  of  Bacon,  but  in  some  roped 
kindred  genius-TRUTH,  though  "  hewn  like  the  mangled  body  of  Oilris,  into  a  thousand  piecw,  and 
scattered  to  the  four  winds,  shall  be  gathered  limb  to  limb,  and  moulded,  with  e*err  joint  and  mem- 
ber, into  an  immortal  feature  of  loveliness  and  perfection." 


Stephens's  Nisi  Prius,  Complete  for  Fifteen  Dollars. 

CAREY  AND   HART,  PHILADELPHIA, 

HAVE  JUST  PUBLISHED 

A    TREATISE 

ON 

THE  LAW  OF  NISI  PRIUS, 

EVIDENCE  IN 

CIVIL  ACTIONS,  AND  ARBITRATIONS  AND  AWARDS. 

BY  A.  J.  STEPHENS,  ESQ., 

BARRISTER  AT  LAW. 

With  Notes  and  References  to  American  Decisions, 

BY  GEORGE  SHARSWOOD, 

ONE  OF  THE  VICE  PROVOSTS  OF  THE  LAW  ACADEMY  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

It  is  believed  that  this  will  be  found  a  far  more  complete  and  com- 
prehensive work  on  the  subject  than  any  in  existence.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  preface. — The  object  of  these  pages  is  to  supply  the  legal 
profession  with  a  Practical  Treatise,  not  only  upon  the  Law  of  Nisi 
Prius,  but  also  upon  the  subjects  of  Evidence  in  Civil  actions,  and 
Arbitration  and  Awards. 

A  desire  having  been  expressed  by  several  members  of  the  profes- 
sion in  Ireland,  that  the  Irish  Common  Law  Reports  should  be  cited. 
Alcock,  and  Napier;  Armstrong  and  Macartney;  Batty;  Cook  and 
Alcock;  Crawford  and  Dix ;  Fox  and  Smith;  Hayes;  Hayes  and 
Jones;  Hudson  and  Brooke;  Jebb  and  Bourke;  Jebb  and  Symes 
Jones;  Jones  and  Carey;  Longfield  and  Townsend;  Ridgway,  Lapp 
and  Schoales;  Smith  and  Batty;  Smythe,  and  Fernon,  and  Scriven, 
as  well  as  Circuit  Reports,  have  been  consulted,  and  the  decisions 
occurring  in  those  authorities,  which  seemed  illustrative  of  Nisi  Prius 
Law,  have  been  embodied  in  the  work. 

Chancellor  Kent,  in  a  letter  to  the  publishers,  remarks — 

"  I  have  run  over  the  principal  articles  in  the  two  volumes,  and  I 
think  the  work  is  ably,  judiciously,  and,  indeed,  admirably  digested 
and  executed.  I  do  not  know  of  any  work  on  Nisi  Prius  Law  equal 
to  it,  and  I  am  sure  it  must  meet  with  the  universal  use  and  patron- 
age of  the  profession.  It  is  printed  in  fine  style,  both  as  to  paper 
and  type,  and  does  credit  to  your  enterprise  and  taste." 

Cambridge,  Jan.  24,  1844. 

"I  have  freely  used  the  edition  of  Mr.  Stevens's  book  ever  since 
its  publication,  and  think  that  for  clearness  of  arrangement,  complete- 
ness and  fulness  of  learning,  and  accuracy  in  the  statement  of  legal 
doctrine,  it  is  not  surpassed  and  hardly  equaled  by  any  other  work 
of  the  kind.  I  trust  that  the  patronage  of  the  Bar  will  not  fail  to  re- 
ward the  publishers  for  the  expense  of  reprinting  the  work  in  this 
country.  S.  GREENLEAF." 


DATE  DUE 


c  APR 

1  a  1988 

R 

JAN  1 

51SSTH 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.  a. 

A     000  627  049     o 


TY.OF  C    .  RIVERSIDE  UBRARV 


I  fill    ill 

3  1210  00651  2337 


